Smoking: I just don't get it.

A UK health advisory body "Health England" has proposed that smokers should require a permit in order to buy cigarettes. The permit could cost £10 and would need to be renewed annually. It would require completing an application form and supplying a photo. Health England suggests that the permit process would help deter first time smokers, and would aid those who want to quit smoking in quitting by making it that much more difficult to get cigarettes.

There are so many mind-boggling plot holes in this lovely idea its just wonderful. First, the people proposing it suggest the form will be highly complex, perhaps this could be seen as a form of discrimination against those of lower literacy levels. Second, you think tobacco taxation is bad in Canada, its batty in the UK. A pack of smoke that will cost $9 in Canada will cost £9 in the UK...ie $21 CDN. So on top of paying outrageous levels of tax their will be an additional annual fee, which HE claim will go to NHS, to help bolster the system, but surely the cost of developing and implementing the system, then of enforcing it will cost far more than the £10 surcharge. What about elderly people, like my grandmother, who barely can leave their houses, how will they register each year? At this time in her life, the negative health impacts of quitting might be more than her system could handle...is such a proposal discriminating against people in her situation. What about foreigners, who come for vacations in England for a week or two or three...will they have to pay ten-quid and get an id card, will their be exceptions...or will they be expected to give up smoking for the duration of their stay in England?

HE suggests that it is necessary to have tight controls on tobacco, but to be honest it seems absurd. I think many Muslim states have it right, just ban it...if its such a monstrous thing. I think a more logical step is much like the steps taken in Canada around alcohol. Take it out of stores. Don't cell cigarettes at every venue in the country. Have Tobacconists and thats the only place you can buy it, that makes it more difficult to get cigarettes, and enforces a tighter control to keep younger cohorts away from the drug. It also centralizes profits from tobacco sales, so only the government makes money from it, then the money can be appropriately directed towards NHS.

Or maybe, if we really believe that cigarettes are harmful to health, the energy should be put into putting pressure on cigarette companies, to produce less toxic products. Ban preservatives in cigarettes, ban the use of glue on the paper, enforce the use or organic locally grown tobacco, enforce the use of non-toxic filters, either cotton or recycled paper-fiber. If the government is really so concerned over the health impacts of cigarettes, then why not put effort and energy into reshaping how the drug is retailed, rather than continually punishing the consumer.

Personally, I agree there is more that can be done to help burn tobacco companies out of our lives, but i think that it has a lot to do with ignoring them. Rather than wasting money contriving new and exotic forms of punishment, create more real, tangible and realistic rewards for those who refrain. Scholarships for kids who have never had a smoke; discounts on food for people who don't buy cigarettes; taxbreaks for families that are committed to smoke free living. Why not?