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Smoking Ban
I just saw an item on the news about medical journal 'The Lancet' urging the government to ban smoking. I could not stop laughing (well I did eventually, but..) We're not talking here about a New York style ban on smoking in public places, but an all out criminalisation of tobacco. I am not a smoker, but to me this seems ludicrously impractical. Due to the extortionately high tax on cigarettes, Britain already has a well established tobacco smuggling industry. Banning tobacco outright would just put the rest of this industry into these peoples hands with the same disastrous effects we always see when people of a criminal mindset are given access to vast quantities of disposable wealth through an easy activity like drug dealing. As a friend of mine put it 'Every city centre in Britain would be a no go zone'. Also, the thought of 10 million indignant smokers rioting after being deprived of tobacco for a couple of weeks doesn't bear thinking about. I realise I am being a bit alarmist, especially as the government is not showing any signs of taking this seriously, but I just wondered what anyone else might think.
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