Netherlands backpedaling on anti-smoking campaign (tobacco - government has "gone too far...")

Press Herald ^ | 12/15/11

[Libloather]

Netherlands backpedaling on anti-smoking campaign
The Associated Press
December 15

AMSTERDAM - It's getting surprisingly easy to light up in the Netherlands these days - cigarettes, that is.

**SNIP**

"There's no other country that's taking these backward steps," said Lies Van Gennip, director of the national tobacco control center, slated to be closed in 2013. "I'm ashamed of what's happening here."

At a press briefing on Wednesday, several Dutch politicians and experts blasted the government for backtracking on tobacco control policies. Opposition lawmaker Renske Leijten of the Socialist Party said Health Minister Edith Schippers was making the wrong decision to cut back on quit smoking policies.

Schippers said she believes in freedom of choice for smokers and that the government has "gone too far in making rules about it."

[Libloather]

Aren't we supposed to be more like them?

[elkfersupper]

The head Dutch anti-smoking Nazi's first name is "Lies".

How appropriate is that?

[PieterCasparzen]

Hash ok, tobacco bad. No wonder we left. Wake up Nederland !

[Iron Munro]

"Sanity breaks out in Netherlands - Socialists Outraged"

[Uncle Ike]

Post of the Day!!!!!

[Clock King]

I’ll bet they just need the tax money. Same with their off-shore drilling vs the enviro-mentalists. Like most leftist idiots, they don’t think about the unintended consequences until it runs them over.

Welfare State meet Reality. Reality wins. Flawless victory.

[Publius6961]

I am waiting for a similar tsunami of reality to hit California. It imposed outrageous taxes on cigarettes, continues to increase it until taxes are 80% of the cost to smokers.

All of it was intended to go to care for smoking related ilnesses and tobacco education. There has been zero controls or audits of how the money actually has been spent for the last 30 years.

Meanwhile, outrageous TV commercials continue to appear (making "connected" advertising agencies filthy rich) claiming "made-up"statistics that are neither backed up by facts, nor stating their source and scientific basis.

A class action suit by taxpayers to demand accounting will occur eventually, and the fiduciary malfeasance will be monumental. When buyers of tobacco products demand a refund, it will be a long noteworthy process to see the clueless bureaucrats try to explain themselves.

I see jail time in their future.

[AnAmericanAbroad]

Now if I were running the show, I’d make smoking mandatory, with an annual 1,000 Euro assessment for non-smokers.

Then, I’d also announce that smoking-related illnesses will no longer be covered under the public health plan (though private insurance can still cover it, of course).

Win/Win.

Light one up.....it’s your patriotic duty! What, you don’t smoke? What are you, some kind of a pinko?

[Publius6961]

Now if I were running the show, I’d make smoking mandatory, with an annual 1,000 Euro assessment for non-smokers.
Then, I’d also announce that smoking-related illnesses will no longer be covered under the public health plan (though private insurance can still cover it, of course).

I have no problem with this suggestion, if it also covers more expensive and widespread harmful lifestyle choices : Aids, alcohol abuse, marihuana, recreational drugs, rock climbing, scuba diving, surfing, skydiving, off road recreational vehicles, etc.

If it causes significant number of deaths, it must be covered.

[grey_whiskers]

Welfare State meet Reality. Reality wins. Flawless victory.

Cheers!

[Calvin Locke]

What about Indiana? Saw a post Thursday or Friday about Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) taking on cigarettes for next year, iirc.

(Didn't read it, but I thought, why?)

[AlmaKing]

You got a new toy for Christmas, I see.

[monkeyshine]

Exactly - now that they have surrendered their economic independence to the collective called the EU, they have to watch every Kroner. They can’t print money, they can’t devalue. They have to live on what they can earn through trade or via borrowing, and deficit borrowings are capped at 3% of GDP in the Eurozone iirc.

We don’t have that problem, at least not until the Chinese stop lending us money. We can shoot every economic opportunity down for any ethereal or hair-brained rationale we can dream up, as long as we can keep printing dollars. Of course, the States suffer but why should the Feds care? We are setting ourselves on a course for economic ruin and/or some kind of civil war when the prudent states realize that their economic futures have been hamstrung and their citizens paying exorbitant taxes merely to pay debts incurred by people long gone and spent on projects that may not even be around.

[Moltke]

Tobacco used to be a factor in the Dutch economy. Most of the roll-your-own tobacco (yes, tobacco, not weed) I smoked back in the day came from the Netherlands. Drum, Javaanse Jongens, Samson, Van Nelle...

[Hot Tabasco]

Most of the roll-your-own tobacco

Bulk tobacco here in Michigan used to be an under the radar source of tobacco for those chosing to roll their own.

As expected, the state realized the revenues it was losing and thus imposed an astronomical tax on bulk tobacco in order to catch up with the packaged cigarettes.......

It ain't about health, it's about tax income........

[Moltke]

It ain't about health, it's about tax income........

Never the former, always the latter. And so on, into perpetuity.