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The government is now going to require packs of cigarettes have graphic images of dead or dying cancer patients on them. If smoking is bad enough to warrant these disturbing images on packs...why not just make them illegal altogether?
Just for the record, I am against making cigarettes illegal, but that seems to be the direction we are headed in this country just in a roundabout way. Probably before long, tobacco will be de-facto illegal...technically legal but smoking will be banned in all public places as well as by apartment complexes, condos, and homeowners associations, so in essence there is no possible place for a person to smoke legally. Its hard to believe that tobacco was one of the original cash crops America was built on.
P.S. If we were to ban everything that is bad for people's health, we would have to shut down 90% of the chain restaurants that dot America's landscape. Obesity death rate is actually up close to smoking if not higher.
As others have said, the government stands way too much to lose. They play both sides of the fence see, they make money from taxes on a pack of cigs, and then they get grant money to promote smokings bans and such. Also, this would open up a black market for cigs and that would create more crime
It's ridiculous to put these labels on things. If someone wants to smoke, that is up to them. What they put in their bodies is none of my concern, nor the government's. If they want to kill themselves, well, maybe that's natural selection.
However, I do agree with taxes being imposed on cigs if those taxes are going to fund the health care costs that will rise from the smokers without insurance. I'm not trying to start an Obamacare debate here but to make a point that assuming that they continue to go without insurance, their hospital costs are going to be passed on to the general public. Same goes for a lot of other things, like the people with substance abuse problems, the morbidly obese who refuse to change their diet habits, people who use tanning beds, etc...but that's a different discussion altogether.
It's ridiculous to put these labels on things. If someone wants to smoke, that is up to them. What they put in their bodies is none of my concern, nor the government's. If they want to kill themselves, well, maybe that's natural selection.
However, I do agree with taxes being imposed on cigs if those taxes are going to fund the health care costs that will rise from the smokers without insurance. I'm not trying to start an Obamacare debate here but to make a point that assuming that they continue to go without insurance, their hospital costs are going to be passed on to the general public. Same goes for a lot of other things, like the people with substance abuse problems, the morbidly obese who refuse to change their diet habits, people who use tanning beds, etc...but that's a different discussion altogether.
The one dollar per pack tax that resulted in me quitting was to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program, NOT to pay the medical expenses of smokers.
The Tobacco Settlement money was to reimburse the States for the medical expenses of smokers. Very little of it went to health care costs.
I have often wondered about "smoker's health care costs"... It seems to me that NON-smokers get old and sick, and live on and on and on, in hospitals, then nursing homes, then hospice care, and eventually expire, costing society untold amounts of money.
Smokers, however, are more likely to get sick, and die within a year or so.
Who REALLY costs the most money?
As others have said, the government stands way too much to lose. They play both sides of the fence see, they make money from taxes on a pack of cigs, and then they get grant money to promote smokings bans and such. Also, this would open up a black market for cigs and that would create more crime
Nah. They'd control it and completely eliminate tobacco from American life the same way they did with alcohol during prohibition and other drugs since the 1930s.
Less cancer deaths means more social security for people living longer as well as less money for the health care industry. Its possible they'll ban tobacco, but only if legalized marijuana prves far more lucrative tax wise. And if they ban tobacco, McDonald's and twinkies and soda are next.
I don't smoke, nobody can force me to. I don't mind if they make it a very expensive habit.
ban tobaco, then alcohol, then driving, what's next.
Matches cause arson, ban matches.
Pens cause forgery, ban pens.
Crowbars and baseball bats can be used as weapons, make people get a permit to own them. Watching tv is bad for you, ban tv. twinkies are bad for you, ban twinkies.
It's ridiculous. I used to be a smoker, I quit in 1997, after 25 years of smoking, because a friend of mine died. One monday, the last day of march he and I had a ciggy then we tossed em in the ash can, and said "see ya in the morning". He had a heart attack and died that night. They say you have to have a good reason to quit, that tuesday, I did. As a single dad, I had too much to live for. Some people never get the message, but it's not your job my job or the job of the government to tell people how to live their lives. If a person wants to smoke a cigerette and the KNOW the consequences, then let em.
I have often wondered about "smoker's health care costs"... It seems to me that NON-smokers get old and sick, and live on and on and on, in hospitals, then nursing homes, then hospice care, and eventually expire, costing society untold amounts of money.
Smokers, however, are more likely to get sick, and die within a year or so.
Who REALLY costs the most money?
Not true.
I have a family member who has smoked for like 30 years. She has COPD (emphysema) and is on lots of meds for that and other bad lifestyle choices over the years that are catching up with her (smoking usually goes hand in hand with other bad choices). She has been in and out of the hospital for years now and has been on portable oxygen 24/7 for about two years now. She actually had to come live with us for months after this last time she got sick and went to the hospital, b/c she had to be put in a medically-induced coma for about a month. She was too unstable to not have her sedated and they had to do a tracheostomy. Because of all this, her muscles atrophied. I had to feed her once they took out the feeding tube. She had to learn how to walk, talk, eat, do things for herself again. It was no fun and thank God she had COBRA to pay for it all (she had gotten laid off about a month before she got sick--she was very lucky to even get health insurance at that job, the new job she got didn't offer it). She is still on 24/7 oxygen, and the whole time she lived with us, I had to take her to multiple doctors' appointments each month (sometimes several times each week), she had a massive amount of prescriptions to take, she had a walker and a 3-in-1 commode to use...like I said, thank God for COBRA b/c otherwise, Medicaid (i.e., the taxpayer) would have been paying it. She did qualify for Medicaid for a few months, as well as food stamps at $200/mo. Now she's on disability.
And guess what. She started smoking again! She went through the withdrawal period while she was under sedation, she didn't smoke for about 6 or 7 months and then as soon as she moved in with another family member, she started up again. It really is a shame, she is killing herself and when her COBRA runs out, she'll have no insurance for about six months before she's eligible for Medicare, so basically, after her COBRA runs out, the taxpayer will be picking up the tab. How exciting.
This is not how it's supposed to work in life.
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