Anaxagoras
Banned
While smoking a cheap smuggled cigarette with my student-corridor neighbor, out of boredness we had a discussion about the social problems of smoking and the economic problems of having high taxes on cigarettes which has resulted in me coming up with a solution to the problems that we have today with smoking, and the solution is:
Since nicotine is a drug, and one that is quite harmful to our health, it should be banned and stopped from being sold as a commercial product in stores around the country and instead should be sold in government owned pharmacies as a controlled substance just like marijuana and other drugs.
In order to buy cigarettes this way, which will be sold in a very unappealing packaging to the young people, a simple white package just like any other headache tablets package, one must register himself in order to buy the cigarettes. After the registration one is able to buy a maximum of 10packs a week, this is to minimize the possibility of them being sold on the black market.
After a period of about 5 years of consuming the drug one risks to loose the free government paid dental insurance and after about 10 years risks loosing the the government health care/insurance for the lungs, heart and other organs that get directly affected from smoking.
This way we solve several problems including:
Smuggled cigarettes and the black market cigarettes; since cigarettes are no longer a commercial product it will be cheaper for the government to sell at a lower price, this way it will close down the gap for a black market, and most of the profit will go directly to the government, and which it can spend on the smokers future health problems.
The cool factor of smoking, it wont be any longer appealing to young people nor considered cool to stand outside a bar and smoke a pharmacy looking drug.
At the same time people are still free to consume the product, it would be cheaper too but it will be them who will at the end pay for the damages that they have brought to themselves and their healths and not the tax payer.
What do you think Gaf? good or bad idea? any improvements to the plan? any points that you disagree with? all constructive criticism is welcome.
Since nicotine is a drug, and one that is quite harmful to our health, it should be banned and stopped from being sold as a commercial product in stores around the country and instead should be sold in government owned pharmacies as a controlled substance just like marijuana and other drugs.
In order to buy cigarettes this way, which will be sold in a very unappealing packaging to the young people, a simple white package just like any other headache tablets package, one must register himself in order to buy the cigarettes. After the registration one is able to buy a maximum of 10packs a week, this is to minimize the possibility of them being sold on the black market.
After a period of about 5 years of consuming the drug one risks to loose the free government paid dental insurance and after about 10 years risks loosing the the government health care/insurance for the lungs, heart and other organs that get directly affected from smoking.
This way we solve several problems including:
Smuggled cigarettes and the black market cigarettes; since cigarettes are no longer a commercial product it will be cheaper for the government to sell at a lower price, this way it will close down the gap for a black market, and most of the profit will go directly to the government, and which it can spend on the smokers future health problems.
The cool factor of smoking, it wont be any longer appealing to young people nor considered cool to stand outside a bar and smoke a pharmacy looking drug.
At the same time people are still free to consume the product, it would be cheaper too but it will be them who will at the end pay for the damages that they have brought to themselves and their healths and not the tax payer.
What do you think Gaf? good or bad idea? any improvements to the plan? any points that you disagree with? all constructive criticism is welcome.
