Canadian politician seeing the bigger picture

[the mutt]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=978426275501042

Long and short of it, he is asking what would be the point in banning something to help folk give up smoking if they are just going to force them outside, they would be just as well staying on the stickies.

 

[welsh phil]

The trouble is I'm not sure it is about giving up smoking, it's the worrying decrease in taxes, especially in this country thats the worry.

If they wanted us to to stop smoking they could reduce the tax on vape gear, which has a proven track record of helping people quite.

I'd love to see an actual study made into how much money is saved by the NHS with people quitting smoking. They often use this as an argument, that the lost revenue from smoking is made up for by actual gains the NHS makes from not having to treat smoking related issues. I personally think a lot more revenue is lost than is spent. So that money has got to come from somewhere.

I'm always worried when governments what to impose stricter controls on things, it usually implies that they don't actually give a dam, they just want more money. Look at speed cameras, they don't stop the actual speeding, they just raise money from people who break the speed limit. If they were interested in the speeding a policeman, pulling people over would instantly stop the speeding.

 

[schlinky]

The trouble is I'm not sure it is about giving up smoking, it's the worrying decrease in taxes, especially in this country thats the worry.

If they wanted us to to stop smoking they could reduce the tax on vape gear, which has a proven track record of helping people quite.

I'd love to see an actual study made into how much money is saved by the NHS with people quitting smoking. They often use this as an argument, that the lost revenue from smoking is made up for by actual gains the NHS makes from not having to treat smoking related issues. I personally think a lot more revenue is lost than is spent. So that money has got to come from somewhere.

I'm always worried when governments what to impose stricter controls on things, it usually implies that they don't actually give a dam, they just want more money. Look at speed cameras, they don't stop the actual speeding, they just raise money from people who break the speed limit. If they were interested in the speeding a policeman, pulling people over would instantly stop the speeding.

The trouble is the government doesn't want a reduced burden on the NHS. Pharma companies have spent decades building up relationships to supply treatments for a variety of ailments related to smoking as well as the NRT treatments which don't work. The government is currently angling to increase taxes to 'ease the strain' on the NHS so anything seen as being helpful to the burden is not going to be welcomed.

If the government really wanted it help its public then vape gear would be tax free, studies would have been done years ago (who's to say they haven't already done their own tests and found vaping to be much better than smoking and kept it quiet) and all GPs would be recommending switching as soon as possible.

People should make no mistake, this is solely down to revenue and nothing else.

I feel a lot of frustration in a system I have already given up on.

 

[Koeshi]

I'm going to agree that money has significant sway here. Not only does the tax that a lifetime smoker pays on tobacco more than likely cover whatever strain they put on the NHS, it also means that many of those with government pensions will not be collecting the full amount so more money back into the coffers.