Hey all,

Saw on the interwebz the other day that some states in the US are considering plain package laws for tobacco products.

Now, In Australia we already have this. All Cigarettes are sold in drab olive packaging, cigars are placed into airtight bags. The pics below are for 1 cigar, 1. each cigar is packed individually...

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Hell they are even going to the extent of opening and covering bands on cigars that you import from overseas, which takes all of 5 seconds to remove to expose the original label.

Now the idea behind this is that the drab packaging will make it less desirable to people when they go to buy a smoke or cigar or tobacco for their pipe. I ask the asylum, do you think this is a total waste of time, do you think it'd actually deter people from smoking or, like me, do you feel that the government could be better wasting my time and money by spending my tax dollars on something worth while?
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Waste of time and money, everyone knows the consequences of tobacco use and this will not deter them. That picture should say not brushing your teeth can harm your gums and teeth!!!!
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Wait... Hang on just one got dang second.. Is this true? :-)
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:-)
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I've got no huge problem with it. I really don't think the government needs to poke it's nose into personal stuff, but I can see the long term benifits as opposed the the upfront cost of this.

Cigars are being lumped in with cigarettes and dip. Even though for most, cigars are smoked out of pleasure instead of addiction.

Cutting smoking cigs by a healthy percent will reduce health costs in the billions for the small cost of repackaging, while still letting people who enjoy their vice still have it.

An ugly bag is a small price to pay to keep your freedom and still help with a problem that for a lot of people, who get hooked just trying to look cool. :-)
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They tried to impose packaging here, such as is found in Canada, and it was struck down as an un-Constitutional infringement on First Amendment rights.

"We are fast approaching the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do as it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force." --Ayn Rand
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