Smoking

SPUGGIE J · 28-10-2005, 10:32

After seeing a comment in another thread I decided to letof some steam.
"You could perhaps get a weekly report printed along the lines of I'm starting smoking campaign"

It seems that when centeral govenment gets one of its bright ideas then all seem to jump on the band wagon and smoking is again the target. Yes some people smoke though some want to stop but to have it pushed down their throughts until they cchoak on it is not right. The govenment says they can be a burden on the NHS but those same people seem to forget an important point. People who smoke are paying tax on their cigerettes.

These people are also invariably working and pay their tax and national insurance as well and to my way of thinking have already payed for their NHS treatment. This line raken by the govenment about smoking in pubs has a fair point to make but because of the money made off smokers you would think there could be a compromise made. There are drains on the system from other habits such as drugs and alcohol and yet these are not under the same pressure. Why they relaxed the law slightly for cannabis.

If all smokers wanted to be left in piece then they should stop for a day ore two and hurt the chancellor in his purse. There would be such a drop in the takings from tax he would give birth to a blue whale. Another possible issue from this is were would the money for the exchequer come from if smokers were forced to quit?

The chances are that tax for everybody would rise and then who could govenment blame? They push the ciggies issue yet there is more help for addicts of certain drugs and those with a booze problem example being the ex footy player. This is "alledgedly" a free country so if people want to smoke then let them if they want to quit help them but remember how much is paid in tax of ciggies and were the lost revenue uptake will come from.

pendy · 28-10-2005, 13:36

According to a report I read the other day, smokers cost the NHS £3.7 billion a year. The revenue from tax on tobacco is £8 billion a year. That sounds to me as though all smokers have paid for their treatment more than twice over.

How much do drug addicts cost the NHS? - free methadone and treatment for all the nasty things they pick up, and the damage they do to themselves when high.

cashman · 28-10-2005, 13:40

its all true- but smokers are a easy target (except me) lol

entwisi · 28-10-2005, 14:15

I find it amusing that they are letting you stay in the pub longer poisoning your liver, getting drunk and getting into fights/falling down stairs, drink driving etc yet stopping you smoking because its bad for your health!

Ian (a non smoker)

garinda · 28-10-2005, 14:22

I won't be going in any pubs that ban smoking altogether.

chav1 · 28-10-2005, 14:32

ime absolutely sick of this crap against smoking....

dosnt the govenment realize how difficult it was for me to start smoking in the first place

i spent 3 months on nicorette chewing gum then phased in nicorette patches in addition to the gum, i then spent a further 4 months on the nicorette inhalators and finaly i was ready for my first cigrette.

i thought my self sacrifice was helping the govenment by raising much needed funds for the NHS but i now find i am been penalized by the very people i was trying to help

thanx for nothing Mr Blair

Doug · 28-10-2005, 14:46

I stopped about three years ago. I woke up one morning and decided I’d had enough. The first thing I did was put on weight nearly two stone. I don’t mind people who continue to smoke, I can choose to avoid it by going else where or I can live with it. I don’t mind or care all I ask is that you don’t do it in my home or my car. Its your right to smoke if that’s what you choose to do. If the Government wanted to protect your health they would ban it all together. Truth is, based on figures available it’s not in there interest to ban it financially or socially. It just a case of how the wind blows……Give us a drag.

accymel · 28-10-2005, 15:21

Had the same discussion with a friend of mine last night on this subject eek i think she wanted a row lmao Tho she said the pubs round her way had banned smoking but not altogether where outside one pub they put benches, tables & patio heaters for the smokers outside & that seemed to pick up his business.....notice smokers now are relegated to outside but least there is choice.

Its rather a catch 22 is smoking revenue>health>choice

West Ender · 28-10-2005, 16:28

We hear so much about the cost to the NHS of smokers. Surely everyone, except private patients, is some cost to the NHS. While I'm not recommending smoking, every person on this earth is going to die one day and it's not just smokers who will need some kind of medical care before they go.

Now, if we were able to say that only smokers die, that would be a big incentive to the weed-puffers to give up. Sadly, even if you've never been closer than 30 feet to a cigarette and/or its fumes, one way or the other you're going to go. Cancer and heart disease are dreadful illnesses but, unfortunately, they are not exclusive to smokers.

Perhaps the NHS handle on this is that if you are a non-smoker you may possibly live to a much riper old age. That means that when your "time" comes no one will make much fuss if your treatment is minimal and you're allowed to "slip away", quietly and inexpensively. ("Well, your father is 95, Mr Snodgrass, so we're just going to keep him comfortable without any intervention"). Do you see what I mean?

garinda · 28-10-2005, 18:13

I'm afraid it will be all the non-smokers who will cost the State more in the long run.

With life expectancy increasing all the time, and with pensions only affording to keep you in inncontinence pants, it will be down to the State to look after the homes full of people who don't smoke, displaying their birthday cards from the palace and playing bingo.

Good luck, I'll be long gone.