It's difficult for me to comment on whether smoking should be banned without sounding 'holier than thou'. You see, I'm a converted smoker. I quit voluntarily 30 years ago, having smoked 20 to 40 a day for almost 20 years - which I guess proves it's possible to quit if you really want to!
It cannot be denied that restaurants, pubs and other public places here in the UK are infinitely more enjoyable since no-smoking legislation was introduced. In the long term, this might lead to fewer deaths from passive smoking and a consequent reduction in the burden on our National Health Service too.
Tobacco duty increases annually, advertising tobacco products was banned nearly 10 years ago, cigarette packs have carried health warnings for ages, and the government now plans to restrict the display of cigarettes in shops. Put gruesome pictures on packs as well and some smokers may be peruaded to abandon the ghastly weed - yet, smokers will continue to smoke - as, indeed, is their right.
Smokers know smoking is bad for them. Smokers know smoking is bad for other people. Smokers accept the statistics that around 50%!w(MISSING)ill shorten their lives as a result - although they're convinced they are in the other 50%!!(MISSING)
Perhaps us non-smokers (or holier-than-thou converts) should encourage smokers to continue committing suicide by nicotine because they'll die earlier and thus be less of a burden on the state in their later years. Or, perhaps we should should encourage them to give up, thereby reducing the £5 or £6 a pack that goes straight into the government's pocket by way of tobacco duty (although other taxes would doubtless have to increase to compensate, even for the non-smokers!). Or, perhaps we should simply remind them that giving up the habit could not only prolong their lives but could save every 20-a-day smoker around £2,500 a year.
For me, I now realise that, while it was sometimes a mildly enjoyable drug, smoking was really just a ridiculous habit. If you listen to Bob Newhart's comic telephone conversation with Sir Walter Raleigh calling from somewhere in the Colonies, you'll probably agree. It went something along the lines of:
Hi Walt. You've got another winner for us?
It's called
what Walt?
Toe-back-oh?
It's a kind of
what Walt?
A leaf...? UhHuh.
So, what do you do with this leaf Walt?
You grind it up, take a pinch, and shove it up your nose Walt? HaHaHa! And it makes you sneeze Walt? HaHaHa!
Or you can chew it...? UhHuh.
Or you can shred it, roll it up in a piece of paper and put it between your lips...?
And what do you do with it then Walt?
You do
what Walt...?
You
set fire to it? HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa....
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