Posted on 02/09/2014 11:00:46 PM PST by Olog-hai
Health officials have begun to predict the end of cigarette smoking in America.
They have long wished for a cigarette-free America, but shied away from calling for smoking rates to fall to zero or near zero by any particular year. The power of tobacco companies and popularity of their products made such a goal seem like a pipe dream.
But a confluence of changes has recently prompted public health leaders to start throwing around phrases like “endgame” and “tobacco-free generation.” Now, they talk about the slowly-declining adult smoking rate dropping to 10 percent in the next decade and to 5 percent or lower by 2050. […]
Some experts doubt it. As long as cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products are legal, it’s likely some people will smoke them. Efforts to prohibit them are likely to fail, they say. (Remember Prohibition?) …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
So, after smoking, what lifestyle choice kills the most people? Those who use bicycles to commute, or homosexuals? Either way, should we feel free to go after them next, once smoking has been obliterated?
Now there's progress for ya..
Way back when, rebels I knew used to hand-roll tobacco (and sneak a little pot into it).
Soon, I guess rebels will be hand rolling big-ass government-approved dope joints (and sneaking a little tobacco into them).
People are strange...
Both are bad.
Experts = Government paid phd’s who can’t hold a job in the private sector. They have an extensive vocabulary however, so they can sound and author written essays on whatever topic the government grant is paying that year.
Just imagine how high other taxes will have to go to make up for the lost revenue from tobacco taxes.
It’s crazy how aggressively the government is going after those e-cigs that would help get people off smoking.
Personally, I quit after smoking for over 30 years.
Stupid habit, damn near impossible to throw off (it has been described as more addicting that Heroin).
But legal.
The funny part is all that wonderful Big Tobacco revenue stream from the bogus lawsuits will dry up.
Much of that revenue stream is to support Health Services.
Some dang good irony there...
LOL.. you’re probably right.
Everyone who’s anyone these days smokes marijuana; it’s not counted as “smoking” as long as it’s not that evil weed, tobacco.
Sure, you get the same emphysema and lung cancer, but, hey, you’re too high to care, baby.
Brave New World on the way.
Or 1984, depending on your perspective.
about 20% smoke and the libtards think this is not normal.
yet 1-2% pf the population are homosexual men/women and/or other perversion, and the libtards require us to believe this is normal.
i await the shtf for the libtards reaping what they’ve sown.
I find it funny they want to ban tobacco smoking and force kids to smoke pot.
The state government of California alone makes more money than any tobacco company from cigarettes. They never want to give up revenue, so how long before they want kids to smoke more.
Our government stopped making sense back in the 1930s. I am frequently shocked by the stupid things that government does but never surprised.
Lose tax revenue to lost tobacco sales.
Legalize and support pot sales to gain it back.
No hypocrisy there, nope.
Ah, yes, cigarettes bad, marijuana good medical treatment and there are laws that prove that. /s/s/s
This is one of those stories that won’t appear in the US news media, but drives home the point.
Germany made a decision about twelve years ago....when the leftist gov’t was in power....to give the Greens a hand in the health department. It was agreed upon at some point....with the budget and revenue folks in full agreement....to up the cigarette tax rate a fair amount. It would be done in two stages....both fairly hefty.
So they start phase one, and the cost factor was obvious on day one. Around nine months into this....there’s an big serious meeting called at the revenue part of the German gov’t. They’ve added up numbers and noted that there’s around half-a-billion Euro ($750 million) that is coming up short on cigarette sales that was “anticipated”. The Germans are smart enough to track stuff like this on a monthly basis....and this money ought to be there. It’s not.
Somewhere at this meeting....a second group is in attendance, and they represent the customs inspectors....who routinely pull people over to check for customs violations....in particular...near the borders of various countries around Germany.
Well...the customs guys say there’s a vast upswing in illegal massive cigarette smuggling. Housewives, students, and out-of-work folks are all getting into bulk buys and smuggling cheaper smokes into Germany.
It suddenly dawns on everyone at the meeting that this massive tax increase only months before....has triggered a reaction that no one expected.
It’s a curious thing though....the Green minister in charge of the health department of the gov’t....announces within days of this meeting that there’s a notable decrease in Germans smoking. Her numbers indicate that the last tax increase was having an effect, and she was really positive over this new trend.
The chancellor had a big meeting and the topic of the 2nd tax increase was brought up. He bluntly knocked that tax increase out, and simply suggested far and wide to advertise that the customs folks were arresting people for smuggling of smokes. He hoped that it would put fear into the hearts of citizens....and only buy German-taxed smokes.
Time has passed, and smuggling still continues at a hefty pace. No one will dare bring up another tax increase on smokes, and the government has basically lost a fair amount of tax revenue by this whole scheme.
I never really have been a regular smoker, but I admit once or twice a year I really enjoy a good cigar. Love the smell of a pipe, too. My grandpa used to smoke apple-scented tobacco in his, and I loved it.
I also have tried snuff - the kind you inhale, not the chewing tobacco kind. A bit like putting a hornet up your nose, but it does clear the sinuses.
I’d rather drink toilet water than chew. My buddy let me try his Kodiak one time, and it made my lip bleed. No thanks.
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