Isle Of Man Prisoners Go On Hunger Strike Over Smoking Ban

[mollag]

Where will it all end?

Are we avoiding the issue? lets get ahead of the game, soon enough smoking, in any form, will be a criminal offence--its where we are heading.

 

Are we prepared for it, will we accept jailing people for smoking?

 

I wonder how soon the first custodial sentance will be given for smoke related offences?

 

Its gotta happen sooner rather than later.

Dont kill others who dont smoke then!

You assume i smoke, which i dont but if you are aware of anyone who has killed anyone it is your civil obligation to inform the police, or were you just exadurating?

[_pele_]

Where will it all end?

Are we avoiding the issue? lets get ahead of the game, soon enough smoking, in any form, will be a criminal offence--its where we are heading.

 

Are we prepared for it, will we accept jailing people for smoking?

 

I wonder how soon the first custodial sentance will be given for smoke related offences?

 

Its gotta happen sooner rather than later.

Dont kill others who dont smoke then!

You assume i smoke, which i dont but if you are aware of anyone who has killed anyone it is your civil obligation to inform the police, or were you just exadurating?

Fair enough, how about, smoking kills

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1093/541176...c222fc3.jpg?v=0

or

Smoking harms your health

http://www.irishhealth.com/content/image/1...lungdisease.jpg

 

But back to the hunger strike

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/c...s/mban1310l.jpg

 

With all this help to assist them in their hunger strike

http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/122975...FatInPrison.gif

[mollag]

But back to my question, are we now prepared to jail people for smoking? It seems that this is the way we are heading.

 

As we recently read, a man prosecuted and fine for over filling a bin, hardly Bill Sykes country, so why not jail the fag fiends?

[gazza]

But back to my question, are we now prepared to jail people for smoking? It seems that this is the way we are heading.

 

i cant see it happing in our life time,

if thay banned it outright, the goveremnet would be sunk,

intill thay find some othere way to tax us to recoup the lost tax on cigs it here to stay,

because with out it the uk goverment is going under,

 

to be honest there between a rock and a hard place,

thay have to be looking like there doing something to surpport the giveing up of cigs, but on the other hand thay need the tax to carry on as a goverment

[mollag]

I tend to agree with you but this anti smoking crusade has become so rabid, some of the posts on this forum are virulant to say the least--and with the present momentum we could fall into a volstedt act for smoking by default.

FFS we cant keep drugs at bay by illegality, prohibition in the US only served organised crime, where are we going with cigggie prohibition, ie when will the non smoking lobby be satisfied?

[localyokel]

FFS we cant keep drugs at bay by illegality, prohibition in the US only served organised crime, where are we going with cigggie prohibition, ie when will the non smoking lobby be satisfied?

 

I agree on your broader point. The society we (effectively the UK under Labour) live in seems to love criminality. Prisons seem to be full of people who failed to pay £200 fines for overfilling their bins, or old buggers who can't afford or refuse to pay council tax, or someone who had their car clamped and failed to pay the fine because the clamper was a thieving bastard with a council license.

 

We need to decide what is proper crime and what is not. The more day to day stuff that is criminalised is counter productive in the overall scheme of things. Its just so wrong criminalising certain day-to-day activities just because there is some money in it for petty authortities.

[manxy]

FFS we cant keep drugs at bay by illegality, prohibition in the US only served organised crime, where are we going with cigggie prohibition, ie when will the non smoking lobby be satisfied?

 

I agree on your broader point. The society we (effectively the UK under Labour) live in seems to love criminality. Prisons seem to be full of people who failed to pay £200 fines for overfilling their bins, or old buggers who can't afford or refuse to pay council tax, or someone who had their car clamped and failed to pay the fine because the clamper was a thieving bastard with a council license.

 

We need to decide what is proper crime and what is not. The more day to day stuff that is criminalised is counter productive in the overall scheme of things. Its just so wrong criminalising certain day-to-day activities just because there is some money in it for petty authortities.

I'm not a smoker but wouldn't like to see anyone go to prison for smoking. As lokelyokel said and it seems to me that, people on a regular basis are going to prison for fines I'm sure there's a better way of handling it and if its for things like they can't pay for whatever reason, surely someone could assist budgeting them?

[WTF]

But back to my question, are we now prepared to jail people for smoking? It seems that this is the way we are heading.

 

but on the other hand thay need the tax to carry on as a goverment

 

 

they nneed our money, but they don't necessaryilly HAVE to take it cigs. when diesel cars became the norm duty went up on diesel. if everyone stopped smoking tomorrow, they would just raise taxes or duty on other things to compensate. look at it another way. if you are a non smoker, the smokers are keeping your taxes and duties down!! the other side though is that IF nobody smoked the health services would cost less ( perhaps a lot ) because they would not be dealing with 1000's of lung cancer sufferers. so non smokers do contribute a bit, but not as much as smokers to smoking.

[Typhoid]

My opinion - and this may well have been stated already but I have to admit I couldn't read through all those pages - is that the only human rights being infringed if smoking is permitted inside prison walls are those of the people working there. As pele (I think) posted, the government appears to be protecting its staff and more significantly, itself from potential future legal action from same staff (and maybe even inmates?). Banning it outside is ridiculous and unnecessary.

 

Do prison officers in England sign a waiver or something? Anybody know?

[mollag]

the other side though is that IF nobody smoked the health services would cost less ( perhaps a lot ) because they would not be dealing with 1000's of lung cancer sufferers. so non smokers do contribute a bit, but not as much as smokers to smoking.

 

A perfectly valid point, can we also apply this logic to motor car accident victims, they cause a lot of NH time and money, same with eating disorders, thin and thick, oh and alcohol related diseases and injuries. We could save a lot of NHS money by banning alcohol, motor cars, and food, but it would be unlikely.

 

 

I personaly could not agree to any furthur discrimination against smokers whilst drinking is ignored and tolerated. There would be no 2nd hand smoking problem if we shut the bars.

[Sebrof]

the other side though is that IF nobody smoked the health services would cost less ( perhaps a lot ) because they would not be dealing with 1000's of lung cancer sufferers. so non smokers do contribute a bit, but not as much as smokers to smoking.

 

This of course is not the whole story. Smokers tend to die four or five years earlier than non-smokers, and are thus much less of a burden on the state and on pension schemes than non-smokers.

[cheeky boy]

the other side though is that IF nobody smoked the health services would cost less ( perhaps a lot ) because they would not be dealing with 1000's of lung cancer sufferers. so non smokers do contribute a bit, but not as much as smokers to smoking.

 

This of course is not the whole story. Smokers tend to die four or five years earlier than non-smokers, and are thus much less of a burden on the state and on pension schemes than non-smokers.

 

 

Thank you, my point entirely

[thebees]

My friend posed the possibility of the governments wanting people to live longer and be healthier so that they can up the retirement age, which ties in nicely with there not being enough money in the pension funds.

 

I am not a nicotine addict anymore but I quite enjoyed having a few smokes on Saturday, it was nice to choose to smoke rather than to need to.

[studmuffin]

My friend posed the possibility of the governments wanting people to live longer and be healthier so that they can up the retirement age, which ties in nicely with there not being enough money in the pension funds.

 

I am not a nicotine addict anymore but I quite enjoyed having a few smokes on Saturday, it was nice to choose to smoke rather than to need to.

 

Hate to say it thebees but that sounds like an addict convincing themselves they are not an addict purely so they can satisfy an addiction.

 

Hope social smoking works for you but its dangerous ground. Do not end up wishing your life away until the next time you can smoke, ie next saturday or the next time you go out for a beer

[Roger Smelly]

I think we all need to realise this is a prison not a place of work.

 

The whole issue has been made law and has been given the green light from the human rights police in europe.

 

Like others have said this is to protect non smokers from the harm of the smoker and as we know its a 50% / 50% split

 

Regarding the rights of smokers and non smokers, the government has decided that to make it easier on everybody a Ban is the way to go.

 

Personally i think it is a good thing because its another thing to stop these thick idiots from going back in to the big kids home.

 

Smoking and drinking are a "choice" that a person who has there liberty can choose, as these people have lost there liberty then they don't have the right.

 

They are not going to get the right to smoke that is a fact