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New Zealand repeals world-first smoking ban passed by Jacinda Ardern
(www.independent.co.uk)
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this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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Ensure liberty is a very broad statement, and usually not an absolute one.
In most countries you aren't free to sell, buy or consume meth, for example, because it clashes with the common good. You could make the same arguments for an abundance of nicotine in cigarettes, or even cigarettes as a whole. You could even make that argument against alcohol, speeding, wearing helmets, having guns, or eating fast food.
There's a line somewhere, and where that line is exactly is not "written in the constitution" for most countries. It's one that can be, and is argued all the time.
It's pretty well understood that meth heroin, etc cause harm to others because addicts tend to lose their jobs and turn to crime to support their addiction. It's not about their personal health, it's about the harm done to others.
For most democracies, the line is (and imo should be) "your right to swing your first stops where my face begins". Individuals have the right to make their own choices, good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, until those choices begin to harm others.