This is indeed a groundbreaking time for many countries around the world, with the 2012 elections bringing the legalization of marijuana to some states in the US and apparently the cracking down of tobacco use in some places as well. BBC News reports that Australia is looking at possibly taking the restrictions they have on cigarettes one step further and actually requiring people to have a license to smoke, not just be of legal age.
Australia has been a pioneer in many ways of cutting smoking more and more out of the daily lives of its population, being one of the first countries to both ban smoking in public places such as restaurants and bars to even putting, well, “less than attractive” pictures on cigarette packs. A legislation in the works, however, may take restrictions on smoking one step further by requiring adults to be licensed and maybe even pass a test like at the DMV to even buy a pack of cigarettes.
The move has been one in the making for some time and has been a hot topic of debate among many people in the country. If legislation is passed it may even restrict how many cigarettes people can buy on a daily basis, essentially forcing people to start making cuts in their habit if they’re smokers.
How can this affect people in the US?
If passed the Australian legislation could help pave the way for many other countries to start cracking down more on tobacco sales if it’s successful, working to slowly edge smoking more and more out of the public. While this may not be too surprising on its own given the trend of many laws recently the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado puts an interesting spin on it.
Essentially what global politicians appear to be saying is: tobacco bad, pot good. Reef it up, dude.
