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SOME TRUTHS ABOUT SMOKING and how we are conned
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I am outraged by the greedy, hypocritical Australian Federal and State governments regarding their so called public standing on the use of tobacco and I am also disappointed in the Anti-Smoking lobby, who I believe are sincere in their endeavours to rid society of this legal drug, but are often themselves duped by the government and fail to direct their energies in a direction that would better further their cause.
I have smoked for almost 42yrs. I started when I left school and started work. I remember the day I started as if it were yesterday. It was during the 1950's, when smoking was all the go, it was cool and grown up to smoke. It was the smoker that got the car, the girl and was successful. I mean, it had to be true as we were bomb barded with the cigarette commercials on TV, magazines and billboards.
I remember, travelling to work on a train and noticing all the older people smoking, how they looked mature. I was almost 16yrs old and that was for me. I wanted to be mature, be successful and get the girl. So I bought my first packet of cigarettes and had my first smoke. Yuck, it tasted foul, but as I said, it was the go, so I kept at it. By the time it came to light that it was unhealthy, it was too late, I was well and truly hooked. Well I have tried on many occasions to give them up and fail dismally, but I keep trying.
I have absolutely no doubt that smoking is the filthiest of habits, that it contributes to many diseases and bad health and that society would be much better off without cigarettes. Nicotine is probably one of the most addictive, poisonous drugs known to us, yet we still see young people taking up the habit when all common sense tells them not to.
WHY: Because the governments aren't fair dinkum, they are greedy, they are liars, they like the revenue they get from cigarettes [ Billions in tax per year ] and because they bow to the mighty power of the tobacco industry. To a lesser extent I feel the Anti-Smoking lobby must bear some of the blame as there as many options open to them that they have not to my knowledge pursued.
THE GOVERNMENTS:
Many government ministers of both federal and state levels have publicly denounced smoking and stated that Smokers cost the taxpayer more for medical than Non Smokers do. They have also raised the tax on cigarettes stating that by doing so, they will stop young people buying them as they couldn't afford them. By doing this they make themselves out to be the "Protectors OF Youth".
A few calculations would show you that the Smoker pays more than enough in extra tax to cover any extra cost in medical expense. Besides that, look up the statistics on obesity. You will find that obesity and its related illnesses is probably the biggest problem, not only in Australia, but the whole Western World. What about alcohol?. It would be, in my opinion, a more dangerous and costly drug to society than cigarettes. In this country, it must be a major problem because of what we consume. It costs the health system dearly not to mention, road deaths, injuries, lost working days and would most certainly be involved in 90% of domestic violence.
If Smokers did in fact cost more, why doesn't the government pour that tax into the health system, into programs that would help young people. Why don't they put Nicotine Patches and Nicotine Chewing Gum on the NHS and pay for it out of the tax smokers pay. They pay for heroin addicts to get methadone and needles free, yet they don't pay tax on their heroin????.
How about the farce of increasing taxes to make it too costly for people to buy them. Has that worked with other drugs such as heroin?. Never, and it won't work with cigarettes. It may stop some, but not most smokers, young or old. The ones it will hurt are younger children, because if you make cigarettes more costly, most addicted parents will still buy them and as a result the other members of that family will have to go without something to compensate for the extra cost. There is no point saying that it is wrong for a parent to do that, We all know it is, but addiction will be the decisive factor.
The Government don't want smokers to quit, they like the revenue they acquire from cigarette addiction. This is one reason that I think the government is hypocritical.
On one hand the government states that cigarettes are bad for health, that they are increasing taxes on them in an attempt to curb their sales and on the other hand { According to their web sites } Search Results tobacco (Page 1) and Australian Tobacco Industry ,they pour money into the development of better tobacco crops in this country so as to remain competitive on the world market. In other words they are pouring tax payers money into the production of a substance that they are telling us is bad for us and don't want us to use. Worse than that, their reasons for doing it is to remain competitive with other countries, so they can sell this deadly substance to them also.
Imagine, if they had of did that with DDT, when they found out about its disastrous effects???. They would have been tarred and feathered.
THE ANTI-SMOKING LOBBY: The Anti-Smoking Lobby has accomplished much, but has missed its calling in many cases. They should do more to expose the governments true interests in tobacco. They should take on some of the issues above instead of talking about making it a criminal offence to smoke in your own home. Scare tactics and \ or legislation will never stamp out any drug problem.
Their prime concern should be to eliminate the smoking of tobacco, for the benefit of all, smokers and non-smokers alike. Truth will always accomplish more than propaganda and there is plenty of propaganda on cigarette smoking. Smoking inevitably gets blamed for everything from heart disease to bad breath and a lot of it is not substantiated by fact. Smokers and Young people will inevitably be put off by lies, untruths, exaggerations or legislation.
Even the medical profession is guilty of being a toothless tiger. They could make their voice heard by the politicians, I wonder why they don't. If they know that cigarettes cause so many problems, why haven't they lobbied the government to supply nicotine patches on script, or at least stated it publicly.
No one has to feed me propaganda to convince me that smoking is a health hazard. I know it is. Yet the saddest part is, It is so addictive to many people, that they continue to smoke, knowing that it was probably the smoking that helped make them ill. I hope that if any youngsters read this, they will take my advice and never smoke. If you do smoke, give it up now before it's got a grip on you. Believe me, Smoking has nothing to offer except maybe a better chance of getting cancer.
Keep your freedom. DON'T SMOKE.
If you have any suggestions, know of a good cancer site or
you find Broken Links. Please Email me at the address below.
Ken
Jordan
kenj@lightstorm.com.au
Date Last Modified: 21/09/2000