This country is turning into a real Nanny State! Who the hell gives these idiots the right to tell other adults what they can or cannot do for a bit of pleasure in their lives? People at the top take drugs of all sorts; and much else besides. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a cigarette as long as one’s smoking is kept in moderation. It’s like everything else in life, moderation is key.
In my life, whilst working abroad, I worked with many Americans. Almost all of them were smokers, most were pretty slim, and few of them suffered from diabetes. Look at Americans today! Most of them don’t smoke anymore, but very many Americans are obese, and type-2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the States.
I would be the last person to say that smoking is good for anyone’s health. But so aren't many things good for people’s health. Being obese certainly is not good for health. Nor is sugar or alcohol. Nor marijuana, for which laws are being relaxed. The long-term effects of vaping, despite what many governments say, are not yet known.
Please note that I am an ex-smoker, so I no longer have skin in the game. However, I will say this: When I smoked, I only ever smoked for the pleasure it brought me (and it brought me a lot of pleasure); I never smoked out of addiction. Never! Smoking is a habit, not an addiction. I know that to be true, because when I quit the habit, I had no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. And I was a twenty a day smoker for most of my adult life. Were smoking to be an addiction, I would most certainly have had withdrawal symptoms. Nor, by the way, have I had any cravings.
So I say this: Let people smoke! Encourage them not to do so, by all means; but let people decide for themselves. I don’t want to live in a smoke-free Britain, because I am old enough to know that if they manage to stub out the habit altogether, it will be replaced by some other undesirable habit, from which many other undesirable side effects and problems will ensue. We will never be able to live in a Utopia. And as Margaret Thatcher once said: “We probably shouldn’t like it if we could.”
This government is a right-wing Conservative government. Right-wing Conservatives are supposed to believe in consumer choice. So they should live by their principles. For heaven's sake, leave smokers alone! – © Mark Alexander
