Smoking is a well documented health risk, it is a financial burden on individuals and society due to increased healthcare costs.
Price oer pack has been sky rocketing, and may go higher than $13/pack in NYC.
Should it be banned or have smokers pay a much more significant tax?
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Such a ban would have the civil rights brigade up in arms and the tobacco giants would be lobbying ( an euphemism for an adage which includes the words palm and silver) the most influential decision makers.
Increasing prices to unaffordable levels would only see the growth of counterfeit products being sold on the black market.
Whichever party introduced the proposed legislation would lose out significantly in the popularity front.
My personal opinion is that they should be banned from all public areas including public thoroughfares, sidewalks or anywhere to which the public have access.
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at the same time, banning it completely will just create a black market, and I am not supportive of that idea. I also think that legalizing pot is probably a good idea to avoid all the criminal activity behind it.
my suggestion is to have draconian tax and ensure even more the heath risks are understood. I would impose a much more direct tax on Smokers as part of their health plan premiums. The challenge will be how to reliably differentiate smoker from non-smoker.
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