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Thread: This is a fantastic idea

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    Senior Member kasavien's Avatar
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    This is a fantastic idea

    The governments new proposal to license smoking, if it puts people off smoking - great, if it gets more money out of those that do smoke - great, because it would (potentially) go to the nhs.

    BBC NEWS | Politics | '£10 licence to smoke' proposed

    seems like a win win situation

    shame smoking will never receive an outright ban though.

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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    It may stop people buying them in shops if they don't have the permit, but it won't stop them getting them through more devious means. Although I am very much against smoking I do not agree with this.

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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    Crap idea, no doubt this info will go on your 'ID card' and you will need it just to buy fags.
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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    What about the millions of fag machines in pubs and the like?!

    Stupid idea, doubt it'll ever happen anyway though. Nanny state to the extreme. I dont smoke, by the way.

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    Senior Member kasavien's Avatar
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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    I kind of realised it would never happen the government tend not to come through on ideas like this, but i do wish there were more initiatives to stop people smoking, it's a horrible habit

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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    I'd agree to this, as long as they abolish the TV license

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    Senior Member JPreston's Avatar
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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    I actually like this idea, I'm an on/off smoker - every now and then I'll buy a pack of fags and binge-smoke them.

    So this would effectively put them out of my reach, because when the impulse catches me I won't have bought a license, submitted a rectal swab, volunteered for an ID card or have set up an international smuggling ring beforehand. I suppose I could still get some kids to buy them for me though
    Quote Originally Posted by Bertrand Russell

    The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

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    cat /dev/null streetster's Avatar
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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    why dont they make fags £10 for a packet of 20? or £20, or some stupid figure...

    or just give up.

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    finding nemo staffsMike's Avatar
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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    because they are so heavily taxed that they don't actually want you to stop I wonder how it actually weighs up every year with the gains from tabaco tax against losses through NHS care for smoking related illness. That would be interesting to know.

    I say let them smoke.. give them a licence to smoke.

    But, oh yes. a big but.. If you have the licence to smoke, you forefit your right to NHS care. That will sort the men from the boys

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    Senior Member JPreston's Avatar
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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    Well I once read smokers contribute a net £9bn to the treasury, which is the duty on tobacco less increased NHS costs. I don't see this as a giant conspiracy. As a strategy, prohibition of any drug has and always will be a complete failure so there is no argument for banning tobacco either.

    And setting aside the sheer lunacy of having to buy a license to smoke, and the fact that it's yet another govt database, I still think this is a great idea....because the cost of the license is actually minimal it's all about the inconvenience. They are using what they do best - bureaucracy and red tape - for a very worthwhile end
    Quote Originally Posted by Bertrand Russell

    The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    Actually, even if cigarettes were not taxed at all, the government makes money from them. The NHS saves money from smokers, they usually have shorter life expectancies and don't receive the REALLY expensive treatments like joint replacements and cardio vascular surgery.

    Treatment for smoking related diesease is more expensive for a given time period, but as smokers die more quickly on aggregate...

    Personally I don't agree with indirect taxes on anything and I think smoking should be banned only on government property. Pubs, shops, restaurants et cetera should retain the option to allow smoking and it should never be made illegal in one's own household.

    I don't smoke, I hate it. But don't tell people what to do with their lives. Don't assume you're superior to someone else and can make their decisions for them.

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    Senior Member Andy3536's Avatar
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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    Quote Originally Posted by Wyoming View Post
    Actually, even if cigarettes were not taxed at all, the government makes money from them. The NHS saves money from smokers, they usually have shorter life expectancies and don't receive the REALLY expensive treatments like joint replacements and cardio vascular surgery.

    Treatment for smoking related diesease is more expensive for a given time period, but as smokers die more quickly on aggregate...

    Personally I don't agree with indirect taxes on anything and I think smoking should be banned only on government property. Pubs, shops, restaurants et cetera should retain the option to allow smoking and it should never be made illegal in one's own household.

    I don't smoke, I hate it. But don't tell people what to do with their lives. Don't assume you're superior to someone else and can make their decisions for them.

    Oh yes as cancer treatments cost pennys these days don't they

    BBC News | Smoking | The real cost of smoking
    Some 'real' info.

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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    Quote Originally Posted by Wyoming View Post
    Personally I don't agree with indirect taxes on anything and I think smoking should be banned only on government property. Pubs, shops, restaurants et cetera should retain the option to allow smoking and it should never be made illegal in one's own household.
    If one pub offered it and another didn't you would cause segregation among smokers/non-smokers so could potentially lead to loss of business for them or conformity with those pubs that do offer smoking..leading us right back to sqaure one.

    Personally I think pubs are much nicer place to be now. You don't stink (of smoke ) when you get out of pubs and non-smokers aren't breathing all that rubbish in all night.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wyoming View Post
    I don't smoke, I hate it. But don't tell people what to do with their lives. Don't assume you're superior to someone else and can make their decisions for them.
    Making a choice for your own life is your own business, agreed, but that doesn't give them the right to make non-smokers decisions for them by smoking in their presence.

    I can't possibly understand drug addiction as I don't even drink Tea or coffee but if someone offers you an avanue where by you continue to recieve the drug you require so much but don't tar your insides and those around you, what good reason is there to ignore it?

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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    I fully agree with this.

    As long as they extend this to include other dangerous, technically class A drugs, especially alcohol.

    Without applying the same technique to other dangerous drugs like alcohol it just makes the UKs already ridiculously conflicting drug laws even worse...and in that case its a terrible idea.
    Last edited by Spud1; 16-02-2008 at 02:25 PM. Reason: typos =)

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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    As long as the price of the license covers the cost of the beaurcracy that goes with it, I wouldn't have a problem with the idea.

    However, I think one side effect would be a dramitic spike in the import of ciggarettes without duty being paid and the nett effect would be a drop in the revenue generated by tabbacco.

    Still, on the plus side it *should* reduce the sale of ciggarettes to teenagers. In fact, it should apply to booze as well, and maybe even lottery tickets and other age restricted things.

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    Re: This is a fantastic idea

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy3536 View Post
    Oh yes as cancer treatments cost pennys these days don't they

    BBC News | Smoking | The real cost of smoking
    Some 'real' info.
    Some real info that says: "They calculated the average lifetime costs of a smoking man to be $72,700 - much less than $83,400 for the non-smoking man.", and backs up his point that smokers cost the NHS less many times throughout.

    Quote Originally Posted by staffsMike
    If one pub offered it and another didn't you would cause segregation among smokers/non-smokers so could potentially lead to loss of business for them or conformity with those pubs that do offer smoking..leading us right back to sqaure one.
    It would lead to pubs allowing smoking because they would otherwise lose business... Proving that the pubs are *not* getting an influx of non-smokers to replace the smokers who have left to drink & smoke at home now that the ban is in place. People would vote with their feet, and it would prove that the majority of pub-goers are in favour of allowing smoking.


    I don't smoke, so I actually like the smoking ban being in place, but I don't agree that it's really the governments place to be imposing it and treating us all like children, especially as I have seen the impact it has had on the smaller pubs. Wetherspoons may be able to cope with it, and even carry the flag, but I'd rather have a nation of smoking pubs than a nation of Wetherspoons.


    On the OP... Surely it's going to cost them more than £10/year per person to run this thing? This is the government we're talking about.
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