How do you feel about the nyc drink ban?

38 Comments

As many of you may be aware of, the Mayor of New York City, Bloomberg, has approved of a ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 oz. in facilities other than grocery stores and convenience stores.

The purpose of this measure is to curb the city's (and our nation's) growing obesity problem.

Supporters consider this to be a first step in legislation regarding the government's handling of our growing weight problem here in the US.

Opponents chide it as another step closer to turning the US into a Nanny state.

Where do you stand?

I support the ban 29
I am against the ban 43
Neutral 9
Other (comment) 2
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Comments ( 38 )
  • Medusa'sPath
    11 years ago

    It irritates me that laws like this get passed. In my opinion, no laws like this should get passed, it should be up to the consumer to choose for themselves. And if people really want children and the people of America to get educated on obesity, then teach it in schools. Or put labels on the drinks that describe the health problems that sugary drinks can cause. Sure, that wouldn't do much to persuade people, but neither would passing that law. People would still buy the drinks.

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    Achtung!

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  • MacG
    11 years ago

    Great idea. But they have not gone far enough. Pedestrians and motorists should have to wear helmets. Also, fire retardant suits should be worn by everyone. Skydiving, rock climbing, and bungee jumping should be banned as well. Also, speech that is deemed offensive to anyone should be illegal. Great idea!

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  • Legion
    11 years ago

    I understand the concern, but I think its a matter of personal choice, before long, we will be forced to live exactly as big Brother wants us to, or we will be imprisoned.

    America is turning more socialist with every new regulation.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      We're getting the country that the majority wants.

      The majority is calling for the government to do more for them in their daily lives than just regulate... and then they complain that the government is infiltrating their lives way too deeply.

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      • robbieforgotpw
        10 years ago

        The lazy bums are the ones wanting the govt handouts and bigger govt

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  • shade_ilmaendu
    11 years ago

    We aren't children, we're a fucking society of autonomous people who all have different ideas and opinions. It really is a nanny state sort of policy. "Now now silly little comsumers, you better not dwink anymore of the fizzy pops! You might give yourself a tummy ache."

    People should be able to make these kinds of decisions for themselves. If they want to make themselves obese? Let them. We'd be a lot better off if we could get our noses out of each other's business for 5 minutes and live our own lives. But no, we're too caught up telling everyone else how to live theirs.

    Don't approve of obesity? Eat healthy. Don't like gay marriages? Marry the opposite gender. Don't like abortions? Don't get one. Don't like drugs? Don't do them.

    But banning the things you don't like and saying it's wrong for everyone else to do them to? Childish, selfish, idiotic, egocentric. I could rant forever on this topic, so I think I'll just stop myself here.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      It is not that simple.

      Obesity may seem like a personal problem, but often it is not. $93 billion dollars ANNUALLY spent on healthcare, much of it being public healthcare and much of THAT being money that is coming out of the TAXPAYER'S POCKETS. And obesity is only getting worse as unhealthy lifestyle habits are being passed down to newer generations.

      DO SOME RESEARCH, Obesity is costing America billions annually, whether it be for health care, accommodations, public transport fuel costs (more weight=more fuel) and loss of worker productivity ALL WHICH GET PASSED DOWN to the consumer and the taxpayer.

      Just as well, drugs are also a problem that costs the taxpayers millions. The foster care system is full of the product of the mentality that drug use is "OK" and "none of everyone's business". Hundreds of thefts, burglaries, robberies and murders are caused by drugs every day.

      I can't speak for gay marriage and abortion, but when problems like obesity and drug abuse start costing the public money and causing harm to the public, it becomes a public issue.

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      • shade_ilmaendu
        11 years ago

        At the same time our lifestyle only aids the problem. If you really want to put a stop to the obesity problem in this country, banning things like larger sodas isn't going to do anything.

        People need to be educated, and more than that we need to change the way we market things. Make more products that are healthy or make healthy foods easier to come by and more affordable. Stop pumping fast food full of so much fat and bad shit, we produce this garbage in the masses and people are often too busy or too tired or too poor to do any better.

        I don't have any solutions to this problem really, and I'm trying not to take too much time in this.. but we need to educate people in a way that will actually make them give a fuck about their bodies and make good food more available, or at least push people to go out of their way for it to drive the fast food and the high fructose corn syrup out of the market.

        So many of the illness we have nowadays can be atrributed to poor diet and general lack of concern about the treatment of our own bodies. I fucked myself over when I was younger, used to love those energy drinks. Now I have acid reflux disease. XD

        As far as drug use/abuse goes, it really depends. I absolutely despise things like meth, crack, heroin... but there are recreational drugs that aren't as bad for you or are safe with responsible use. But making them illegal is what feeds the crime. Portugal made a pretty good model when they decriminilized everything and made it regulated.. reduced the crime and they had more people going into addiction therapy than going to get their heroin administered. This country sure isn't ready for something like that, but it would kill the drug war and put a stop to the cartels. The problem wouldn't go away completely, there will always be abusers, but an addict stealing to get their fix needs help, needs rehabilitation. Just throwing them in jail doesn't fix anything, they get out and get back into the same shit again.

        These are such complicated problems, I'm too young to think I have all the answers. Just knowing that what we're doing isn't working and some ideas about how to maybe fix things.

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          11 years ago

          I understand. My only point was that what may seem like a personal problem can often be a public concern. Health is a resource that, for many people, is NOT renewable like your supply of cheetos or the seats in your car.

          You make a valid point though. Just throwing money at the problem WILL NOT work. We need an intellectual intervention and we need to press the idea that we MUST be held to further responsibility for our health.

          I do believe that obesity and drugs should be handled differently, but not by shaming or criticizing people who, at the least, are suffering from a health condition due to their negligence which is often caused by a psychological condition.

          However, you're not alone in this matter. You have some of the nation's greatest minds at work attempting to figure out exactly WHAT WILL help the problem and unfortunately, not much in the way of realistic solutions yet.

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    but you could walk around with a gun?

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    It is just a do nothing, pain in the ass law.

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  • Avant-Garde
    11 years ago

    This is the first time I've heard about it, but I support it. If only the whole nation would get to cracking on the obesity epidemic than maybe, our country could start to be healthy again.

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  • Wendell
    11 years ago

    I'm torn, it's not very free and is very "nanny state", but I am tired of fat people guzzling soda

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  • dom180
    11 years ago

    I'd support it. I'd support educating people about obesity even more, but at least this is something. I doubt it will be very successful, but better this than nothing.

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  • capcrunch6
    11 years ago

    I believe that instead of limiting people's choices, we should be offered more healthy choices, like juice, milk or water. Then, people would not feel like they are not in controll of thier own diets, but still eat more healthy foods.

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  • serpenteye
    11 years ago

    Well I dont live in NY, but if Manassas did that, I would get HIGHLY PISSED.

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  • thinkingaboutit
    11 years ago

    I live in NYC and I support the ban. Half of the 7 year olds I see look like the michelin man, or are on their way.

    You simply can't leave most people up to their own devices They aren't smart enough, nor do they care.

    Whatever. it's the principle I guess; I don't think it will make a difference in healthcare 35 years from now?

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  • Crazystupidguyhome
    11 years ago

    And after sizes, whats next, what clothes you can wear? what car you can drive?

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  • Crazystupidguyhome
    11 years ago

    People should have the right to choose their drink. The ban is unconstitutional and very stupid. What next? Pizza? No more large pizzas or Ice cream or burgers? NYC should stand up for it's rights.

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  • Ihadtomakeyetanotheraccountffs
    11 years ago

    Fuck this ban. Not that it really makes a slight fucking difference.

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    • Crazystupidguyhome
      11 years ago

      I agree. They could just go to Newark or a suburb to get around it.

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      • Ihadtomakeyetanotheraccountffs
        11 years ago

        For value yes. Or just get a multiple bottles of soda but that would be more expensive.

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  • Imposturously_yours
    11 years ago

    haha.. I'm sorry. But I couldn't help it anymore.I don't know where I stand, but I gotta admit -It's a ridiculous law.

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  • wigsplitz
    11 years ago

    Didn't NY also ban salt in cooking, in restaurants?

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    • VioletTrees
      11 years ago

      It was proposed, but it wasn't passed.

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      • wigsplitz
        11 years ago

        Well I live in NY and I know for sure many (maybe all, I don't know) restaurants don't have salt shakers on the tables anymore, that happened a loooong time ago. You can ask for salt, they just don't have it sitting there for the taking anymore. NYC has some different laws than the rest of NY so I don't know all the ins and outs of it.

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  • dappled
    11 years ago

    I hadn't heard of this. What's to stop people buying multiple smaller drinks? It's like the ban here on buying large amounts of paracetamol (to stop potential suicides). Logically, you'd just visit more than one pharmacy. I do support it, though, as people on the brink of committing suicide often do it as a knee-jerk reaction and would have changed their mind later.

    As for the drinks, I'm trying to convert in my head how much 16 fl. oz. is. I think it's about half a litre. That kind of restriction is already in place in much of Britain. There are no glasses in pubs that hold more than a pint, nor do we need them. You drink a pint, you want another, so you go and get another. The only bigger containers I've seen are in American multiplexes where the drinks seem to come in buckets. I can understand that too because if you're seeing a film, you don't want to interrupt it to get another drink. Although I don't think I'd go into a film being so thirsty that I needed a bucket of soft drink.

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    • Sog
      11 years ago

      The point is not to outlaw people from drinking large amounts of soda. It's only supposed to be a deterrent. Of course you can buy more soda if you honestly want to drink more.

      Psychology shows that people will "clean their plates" even if they're full and satisfied. Give people a massive jug of soda and they will drink it all even though they didn't really want that much in the first place.

      Just like with the removal of the "super size" meals at McDonalds, soon people will forget about the jumbo size and realize that they are completely satisfied with a reasonable amount.

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      • dappled
        11 years ago

        Aha! I get it! So it's really a law for businesses as opposed to people, to make business act more responsibly?

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        • VioletTrees
          11 years ago

          Yeah, that's the general idea with most laws like this.

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          • dappled
            11 years ago

            I'd completely read it the wrong way! I wonder how business feels about it. It seems contrary to the idea of American capitalism that all consumption is good, even if it results in waste, because the production itself has knock-on benefits.

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    • VioletTrees
      11 years ago

      Other than movie theatres and food courts at the mall, most places in the US have free refills anyway. I expect the idea is that if you have to refill your drink, you'll notice how much you're drinking. I think posting calorie content and sugar content for the different sizes and beverages on the soda fountain would probably make more sense, though.

      Anyway, they say diet sodas over 16 oz won't be banned, but I think businesses are far more likely to stop carrying drink cups over 16 oz than they are to start making specially marked cups for diet sodas. That wouldn't really be a problem for most people, but it sometimes would be for me. I have to drink a great deal and take in extra sodium to help keep from passing out, so in places like movie theatres, it makes a lot of sense for me to have a very large diet soda. Come to think of it, I collapsed upon standing up after the last movie I saw in a theatre. When I'm on a walk and I get dizzy, it's nice to be able to get a very large drink at fast food places. I suppose I could stop at convenience stores then, though.

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    • [Old Memory]
      11 years ago

      You can buy as many 16 ounce drinks as you want, that is why the law is pointless. They should spend less time banning and more time teaching kids about proper eating and drinking habits. 16.9 = is 500ml.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      http://news.yahoo.com/york-oks-nations-first-ban-supersized-sugary-drinks-154425573--sector.html

      There is the news story if you are curious.

      There is absolutely nothing to stop people from going back and buying multiple drinks. In fact, most of these restaurants offer free refills no matter what the size.

      I think their bet was that it would reduce the soda consumption of people who order take-out meals in fast food restaurants. I myself have ordered those massive sodas in fast food restaurants but they always end up only half-empty, rotting in the card-board cup in my car...

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      • wigsplitz
        11 years ago

        Just as long as they don't ban Olde English 40's!!

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  • dinz
    11 years ago

    Obviously we see what they are trying to do is commendable but I don't think this is the right way of dealing with the obesity problem.

    As a society we need to learn personal responsibility, I believe through educating the young ones maintaining a proper diet and look at ways of making healthier options (And cheaper) more available.

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  • myownopinions
    11 years ago

    The law is kind of useless, but, hey, it's a first step at least.

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