'Why should OUR TAX MONEY pay for treatment for smokers?'
It pisses me off no end when people say this.

My response is usually 'Do you skydive/ride a motorbike/swim/cycle/walk down the street? Why should MY TAX MONEY pay for your treatment if you ever have an accident?'

People are going to partake in activities which may be harmful to one's health, and no-one has any right to stop them.
(Half of Stephen Fry's right buttock pissed on your dog on, Mon 24 Mar 2008, 22:42, 12 replies)

Er...
How on Earth do you rate walking down the street alongside Skydiving in the "life-threatening activities" stakes? Well, unless you live in Iraq, of course.

You have to understand that modern smokers (that is to say, any smokers born in the last fifty years or so) have no sane reason for their habit. They are told, quite plainly, that smoking is addictive and that the gases produced by burning tobacco are both highly toxic and incredibly carciogenic. Yet still they do it. Many non-smokers fail to see why people deliberately doing anything so incredibly stupid should get help from the NHS when it inevitably harms them.

On the other hand, the same can be said about addicts to any drug (including alcohol). Maybe binge-drinkers should be charged when the get their stomach pumped in A&E...
(Orin delurked to post this gibberish on, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 0:04, closed)

Whose tax money?
Smokers pay taxes too, in fact more than 80% of the cost of a pack of cigarettes in the UK is tax so smokers are paying for their own treatment.
The question should be "why is smokers' tax money being used to treat non-smokers illnesses?"
(antigen is running away from something, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 2:32, closed)

^^
Passive smoking?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 8:30, closed)

If someone can actually
come up with some f*cking evidence for second hand smoke harming people, rather than a few random "could be" cases being quoted as fact, then we'll see.
( Madam Marlboro wonders if you've found her yet, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 10:33, closed)

@Madam M
There's plenty of evidence. I suggest you have a browse of a few medical journals from the past decade or two.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 11:21, closed)

Madam M
Ask Roy Castle, he's had plenty of experence in this field.
( caffeinefreak, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 11:52, closed)

The downside is
That you would have to conduct a seance to find out Roy Castle's viewpoint...
(Panteneman Isn't entirely sure why he bothered on, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 12:28, closed)

^^^^
The upside would be a chance to speak to Roy Castle \o/
( Moonraker isn't the droid you were looking for, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 12:50, closed)

In Ireland
Roughly six euro of the seven fifty price tag on a box of smokes goes to the government.

I am a 30 a day smoker, this means that every day I give 9 euro to the government. That works out at 3276 a year. Now I have been smoking for 15 years, (I know the amount I smoke has changed, as has the price of a box of smokes.) for arguments sake lets call this 45,000 euro. Google thinks there are close enough to 1 million smokers in Ireland, that means that in the last 15 years the government has taxed us roughly 45 billion euros for the privilage of smoking. They are earning more than three billion a year from ciggerette sales alone! And Ireland is a small country in comparison to pretty much anywhere else.

If they invested any more than a fraction of this into anti-smoking campaigns, health care for smokers etc then I think there might be a slightly better situation here than there is now. But it suits the government to take this money. Hell, it's the same with drink, except even more people drink!

To be honest, no one has to worry too much about their tax money going to help the poor dying smoker, they have probably paid for it (or alot of it anyway) themselves over their smoking career. (Especially the long term ones)

Not to mention of course that they are paying VAT, Income Tax etc with the rest of you too.


EDIT : Also, how could second hand smoke NOT harm people? There is not a chance in hell that I would smoke any where near my kid, or in anyones presence if they even had the slightest problem with it.
(oeb, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 12:51, closed)

my dad
once played trumpet with roy castle (well, my dad played cornet, roy played trumpet)

this is not a euphemism
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 14:14, closed)

What I want to know is
when are they going to shut down all the Maccy D's and KFC joints to combat the obesity problem?
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Tue 25 Mar 2008, 16:30, closed)

^^^
Or add a six euro sin tax on every 'Extra Value Meal'
(oeb, Wed 26 Mar 2008, 11:31, closed)