Charge smokers for right to buy cigarettes

The Telegraph UK ^ | 10/24/2006 | Rebecca Smith

[Eric Blair 2084]

Smokers should be forced to apply for an annual £200 licence in order to purchase cigarettes, a Government advisor has suggested.

The scheme would ensure smokers had to make a conscious decision to continue the habit and require people to become "registered addicts".

The £200 charge would be used to fund the licence system Prof Julian le Grand, a former advisor to Tony Blair, floated the idea during a speech this week. He also proposed banning food manufacturers from adding salt to products, an exercise hour for all employees during the working day and free fruit in offices.

The smoking permits were immediately lambasted as an excessive nanny state measure and "political suicide", given that their introduction would alienate the one quarter of British adults who smoke.

A report from the Department of Health yesterday revealed Britons are more likely to die from smoking related diseases than Europeans. They also drink more alcohol and eat less fruit and vegetables and are the fattest on the Continent.

Prof le Grand, who lecturers in social policy at the London School of Economics and advises ministers through his chairmanship of Health England, said the idea was to make healthy choices the norm and force those who object to make a conscious effort to opt out.

Once the scheme was up and running, it could be extended so smokers had to get a doctor's signature that their health was not at "massive risk" by smoking in order to get a licence.

[Eric Blair 2084]

While this is not likely to be implemented (at least for now), it is just fascinating to see how the medievel mind of anti-tobacco activists work.

They spend hours at conventions trying to figure out new ways to torture smokers until they give up and quit smoking.

Torquemeda couldn't have come up with better stuff.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Big Brother, Nanny State, Grant Junky, Bogus Study, Junk Science, Social Engineering, Sheeple Control, Health Nazi

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Constitution of the Left Wing Nanny State of Liberals:

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Preamble:

We the People Sheeple of the United States Nanny State, in Order to form a more perfect Union Socialist Utopia, establish Justice Socially engineer a country of non smoking, physically fit, tea totallers, insure domestic Tranquility Smoking bans in bars, limits on unhealthy food and social drinking, provide for the common defense Universal Healthcare, promote the general Welfare health of the population whether they like it or not, in order to save above mentioned Universal Healthcare entitlement program from bankruptcy, and secure the Blessings of Liberty Dependency to ourselves progressive liberals and our Posterity Hitler Youth who we brainwash through public school education, do ordain decree and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Nanny State of Liberals.

[xcamel]

GB and sink into the atlantic any time now...

[Mojohemi]

Lets pray the lunatics finally get their way and everyone on the planet stops smoking

[Eric Blair 2084]

ping. Thanks for finding this. This is really medievel.

[SoCalRight]

Sounds like they already have the “free fruit in the office.”

[diefree]

Is this from Scrappleface?

[Eric Blair 2084]

Somebody is going to be really upset regardless of the result of the social engineering experiment.

If everybody quits, the state will lose billions.
If not enough people quit, the anti-tobacco people will be really, really pissed.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Nope, biggest paper in the UK.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

No wonder they drink so much!

[Madame Dufarge]

You're most welcome.

The Onion must be seething with jealousy.

[OCCASparky]

Uh, people already DO pay for the “right” to buy cigarettes. It’s called TAXES!

[Eric Blair 2084]

delayed ping. Welcome aboard the SS Nanny State.

[Eric Blair 2084]

I couldn’t even make this stuff up. Fact is stranger than fiction.

[FourtySeven]

Craziness! Like they don’t suckle enough money from the smoker’s teat.

I was in Wales recently and one pack of 20 Marlboro lights cigarattes cost $11 (5.65 pounds)!

Eleven dollars for one pack! I guess it makes some sense though; it seemed about as much people smoked there as here, even with those outrageous prices.

[peggybac]

What would these jerks do if everyone actually quit buying cigarettes like they pretend they want? Their coffer of tax money would dry up and then what will they tax?

[metesky]

The £200 charge would be used to fund the licence system Prof Julian le Grand, a former advisor to Tony Blair, floated the idea during a speech this week.

I believe our friend Orwell said something to the effect that this is an idea so stupid that only an intellectual could believe it.

I can see a ton of unintended consequences coming down the road on this, a roaring black market and "free" tobacco clinics for addicts being two just off the top of my head.

[The Pack Knight]

I wonder if they’ve actually tried to study how this would work. I suspect that, if anything, it would disincentivize quitting. After all, if you spent good money to smoke for a whole year, it’d be a hell of a waste to only smoke for 6 months.

[sodpoodle]

It’s right in line with pre-war ration coupons, post-war Television permits and dog licenses - probably costs the same.

The comments from Brits - following the Telegraph article should be printed here.

And Winnie is blowing cigar smoke from his grave!

[M203M4]

Well, government started the ball rolling right by all but disarming them.

[The Pack Knight]

Cigarette taxes have been going up even here in North Carolina of all places, though, last I checked, a pack of Marlboro lights was still south of $4, though not by much.

[ichabod1]

Freak show. But it’s not so unlike Lord High Mayor Bloomberg’s idea to force them to put the calories next to the price, now is it.

[CPOSharky]

How long before the “smokers license” turns into a license to NOT provide medical care?

[ichabod1]

I’m guessing there’s a thriving black market.

[xtinct]

Need to add that women who get abortions are likely to get breast cancer click here Why should Americans citizens in general pay for a woman's choice? What goes around comes around ... nasty, murderous feminazis.

Doesn't breast cancer increase an insurance company's risk????? Are all women paying increased premiums because of this affliction?

Also, Women who drink run the risk of getting breast cancer and that risk is directly related to the amount of alcohol they consume, according to new reports here: Why should citizens pay for this bad choice?

Abortion and alchohol are self-inflicted causes of breast cancer.

Anti-smoking activists/zealots should be worrying about their own behavior especially if they're feminazis who have gotten abortions.

And by the way in 2002, 2 separate studies came out saying that second hand smoke DOES NOT cause cancer.

Better check those emission pipes on the cars.

[FourtySeven]

I’m guessing there’s a thriving black market.

Good point, I never thought of that.

[Psycho_Bunny]

lol.....what?

[processing please hold]

Have you seen this. It's the un, what else.

WHO tobacco treaty

Make sure you click on the links on the right side and then click on more links.

[processing please hold]

We signed the treaty but haven't ratified it yet.

United States of America---- 10 May 2004

[Impugn]

What would these jerks do if everyone actually quit buying cigarettes like they pretend they want? Their coffer of tax money would dry up and then what will they tax?

This has always puzzled me. Seriously, [we] smokers save the state - here in the U.S. and there in the U.K. - tons (or tonnes, if you will) of money by dying young and not sapping Social Security, Medicaid, and the like for 25+ years.

How many programs (or programmes...ok, I'll stop) are built upon the various "sin taxes" they implement? How many would be left un- or under-funded once the sin is eradicated?

Now that I think of it, how many states actually used that huge tobacco settlement money for anything remotely related to smoking?

In the end, though, the "civilized" nations will enact de facto bans via legislation and social pressure and smoking (legally) will cease. Tobacco companies, however, will continue to thrive (and the government will reap the associated taxes) by shipping the product (and the problems) off to countries like China and India. Taking this prediction to the extreme, it will eventually amount to a modern day version of the Opium Wars.

As I side note, the ridiculous society depicted in The Demolition Man movie will be that much closer to reality. "I've seen the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener"." (Of course, that person will have no idea what a hotdog is/was...meat having been banned by then.)

[Gorzaloon]

How long before the “smokers license” turns into a license to NOT provide medical care?

Bingo..We have a winner!

But how tragically embarrassing!

Just think! The National Health refuses to treat those with Smoking Licenses.

Then they screw it all up, when the smokers are shown to live longer than those treated by the benevolent NHS!!!

Consider that recent hospital with the staph outbreak. Their administrator left with an undisclosed golden parachute between £700-1M, after killing a couple of hundred patients- Think of all the money she saved the NHS!

Why, it will not surprise me to see NONSMOKERS buying Smoking Licenses, just to make SURE the NHS will leave them alone, and let them live longer and finally die with dignity at home instead of a neglected bed full of feces!

[gidget7]

I say we turn the tables. Boycott any town/city that doesn’t allow smoking in parks and the like. Work place or public buildings, even some private businesses we can’t do anything about yet. But if they are getting into private homes, or outdoor spaces, which some towns are, don’t buy cigarettes in that town. I would love to see legislation that stated if you do not allow for the use, you can't sell them. Guaranteed, the government would not stand for going without taxes. And every smoke shop and convenience store would be screaming.

Best possible thing, roll your own. Boycott all the sellers, no sales, no taxes. Choke them out for a change.

[gidget7]

“What would these jerks do if everyone actually quit buying cigarettes like they pretend they want? Their coffer of tax money would dry up and then what will they tax?”

There are ways to do just that ;)

[oneamericanvoice]

Socialism on display.

[gidget7]

“How long before the “smokers license” turns into a license to NOT provide medical care?”

Oh Sharky, it already is!! In many places. And not only are a lot of smokers denied medical care, in Britain and here, but the are further penalized by making them pay for uninsured people’s medical care. It’s insane! And there are some RINO’s on board with this too.

[gidget7]

Good Lord! Terrorist countries have more to worry about than cigarettes! They don’t live long enough to get any illnesses!

But one thing this article makes pretty clear, which is scary. And we should have seen the writing on the wall (a lot of us did) when they added tobacco to the ATF.

[jcparks]

I say we turn the tables. Boycott any town/city that doesn't allow smoking in parks and the like.

A better idea, make it so that any community, county, state, etc. that bans the LEGAL activity using tobacco products CANNOT PROFIT off the extortion that they forced upon the American people.

It IS time to water the tree...

[gidget7]

EXACTLY!

Failing that, the stores that sell them would never stand for not being able to sell them. It is a huge part of their business. So we shouldn’t buy them there.

[Impugn]

How long before the “smokers license” turns into a license to NOT provide medical care?

I am sorry if this turns out to be a double-post, but my earlier effort seems to have been lost in Post Approvalville (?). Anyways...

I was thinking of the government first requiring a license, but then, subsequently, making said licenses impossible to get [legally]. Smoking problem solved(!?).

This is very similar to how the earliest federal anti-drug laws were structured and implemented.

[mylife]

The £200 charge would mostly be spent on administering the system

So ultimately all this does is levy a further tax on smokers and expand Govt.

Its amazing that there are people online who say they would vote for it. The concept of freedom is lost.

[Chode]

Charge for the RIGHT??? what don't they understand about the word RIGHT??? you can't be charged for a RIGHT!!!

they'd butchered their OWN LANGUAGE with SlickWillie-ese to the point they can't even bring themselves to say charge for the PERMISSION!!!

[peggybac]

“Failing that, the stores that sell them would never stand for not being able to sell them. It is a huge part of their business. So we shouldn’t buy them there.”

I went to a gas station near my home today to get my oil checked and asked if they sold cigarettes. The guy said, “Yes, but not for long.” I asked why and he said something like the owner doesn’t think it’s a good idea and that they don’t make any money off of selling them. I couldn’t believe it - a gas station that doesn’t sell ciggys and in KANSAS?? Oy.

[John W]

shhhhh.

[gidget7]

In most parts of the country, gas stations are a thing of the past. Most are convenience stores, and ciggs are a huge seller as are lottery tickets. My guess is they are buying them at the convenience stores. Doing it all in one stop so to speak.

[383rr]

I would sadly have to agree.

What can a person say about madness such as this?

[mylife]

Read the comments at the link.

There are a pile of folks who are willing to embrace this thing.

The reasoning seems to be “I dislike this group of people and the tax doesn’t affect me. Stick it to them!”

Its Mob rule.(see my tagline)

[ichabod1]

I can’t imagine a bunch of stout Welsh yoemen with bad attitudes paying full freight for the government tax bite. The product probably goes through unsavory hands, but the government brings it on itself.

[ApplegateRanch]

He also proposed banning food manufacturers from adding salt to products, an exercise hour for all employees during the working day and free fruit in offices.

Not to be too salty, but I am excercised over this free fruit thing. Queers should be paid just like anyone else!

[Mears]

God almighty,will it ever end?

Back to the Sox game for some sanity.

[beckysueb]

What would these jerks do if everyone actually quit buying cigarettes like they pretend they want? Their coffer of tax money would dry up and then what will they tax?

Gas and fast food.