http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/smoking/smokingbans.html
This is mainly a rebuttal towards the blog posted by SSV, they are a worthy opponent. Canada is considered to be among those countries at the forefront of anti-smoking legislation, but the rest of the world is beginning to catch up.
As a non-smoker i have a large opinion on this topic, well if you now me i have a large opinion on everything. A study found that discriminating against smokers is the only form of acceptable form of discrimination. But in the end it still is discrimination. Taxing smokers for their lung cancer affects on the health care system is ridiculous. What about the Obese, they place great strain on our health care system and they don't pay anything for doing so. If anything smokers are already taxed, the only time i buy cigarettes is when i go over the boarder. The Canadian government taxes cigarettes largely, this money is most likely going back into the health care system, so if anything we should thank smokers currently for paying towards operating our health care system, but paying for research into cures for cancer and aids, and other diseases irrelevant towards smoking.
Also the argument of second hand smoke is unfair and ridiculous. Honestly smoking contributes approximately 5% to poor air quality. The rest of the 95% come from things like energy production, industry, and transportation. Our addiction to oil and production of nitrous oxides, Sulfurous oxides, are worst than our addiction to smoking. Take Europe for example; they have the largest amount of smokers in the world, smoking there is a large part of their culture, and it is greatly accepted. And yet they have higher life expectancy than we do. This is due to perhaps a better health care, but one things for sure is their air quality is much cleaner due to reduction of pollutants from transportation. Cars were made to transport people not cars.
In the end i feel that smoking is your choice, and like any choice you pay for the consequences. Yes it disturbs people, but that guy revving his supped up Honda civic in front of McGuinness Front Row is doing more external harm than any cigarette. These are known as externalities. In the good old days, Hollywood portrayed smoking as sexy and amazing, and i love this form of market placement, thats why i wanted to buy the tumbler after batman begin came out. Personally i think smoking is cool, i just don't smoke because I'm too cheap to buy smokes.
Where i get all my Canadian News, Which may explain alot
Rick for Prime Minister
About Me
.jpg)
- Matthew Wong
- I am an 2b civil engineering student, and this is my one elective i chose. That's right this class is my elective, and i don't regret it, because the work required is way less than any core class i have ever had. I love it so much im thinking a transfer, or i want to work in the engineering/government area. If there is some work related area.
4 comments:
Smoking is cool. When you talked about the taxation reverting back to the health care system, I was really talked into saying Smoking IS COOL. All jokes aside though, the government needs smoking business to stay consistent. Imagine how the industry will lose its stability if people started to choose to not smoke. Smoking does relate greatly to cancer, but smoking itself is not the main reason for cancer to appear. If you studied sociology, the process of health care developments in any country, meets the last development step of people becoming sick after certain age limit regardless of their health care system. In other words, people are forced into some diseases when the time comes. Obviously, I'm not here trying to support smoking because I think it is one of the most useless hobbies to have, we cannot ignore its economic impact and its fund raising for health care systems. Smoking is cool, well, at least for the First nations and their massive illegal plantations... (jk jk)
OHHHH. So you want me to be more expressive eh?
I do agree with what you're saying though I wish I had a rebuttal instead. I mean if we're going to tax smokers because they're a burden on our health care, then are we going to tax the mentally or physically disabled citizens in Canada?
I, myself am not a smoker either. However, I do believe that with the freedom to not smoke also comes with the freedom to smoke. If one chooses to, then so be it. The tobacco industry is a huge part of our economy. It's not like we're going to kick it to the curb. Smokers already have a lot of restrictions placed on where they can smoke, how old they have to be and yadayada. Placing a tax on them is just not necessary.
Haha, yeah, all the cool people smoke. (well except you of course ;) )
The vice tax on cigarettes is a prime example of legal paternalism in Canadian government. I heard a while back that the government offered to buy out tobacco companies (like they did with alcohol) and when the tobacco companies refused, they raised the taxes in an effort to drive them out of business. It was secondhand information so I don't know how truthful it is but this doesn't sound surprising.
Even if the above is untrue and the tax was instigated for "health reasons" you are right that it is an absolute double standard. First, it's a big generator of revenue for ALL areas of government. Second, if they were spending all the cigarette money on health care, our system would be a lot better than it is. Higher wages for docs and less of a wait! Third, yeah there's the matter of the obese and other people who have illnesses that they have a measure of control over. Are we to overtax people who get injured while taking stupid risks on a snowmoble or in a car? If your illness is not congenital, should you be paying extra hospital fees because of the unhealthy factors in your life that must have led to your illness?
This sounds like a good debate, and I would love to add my two cents.
Taxing smokers for their cost on the health care system is a tricky issue. I have not seen statistics, but I do know that smoking related health problems are a great burden on the health care system. I don't know if it is the best choice to tax smokers more heavily, but on the other hand, I also don't feel it is right for smokers to impose such a cost on the rest of society.
It is not fair to others that these people make themselves sick, and then they cost so much in resources to be looked after. In addition, I would be intolerable for people who are naturally sick to have to wait for treatment because the beds in the hospital are filled with people sick from smoking.
So what is to be done?
I know the smoking industry must be a huge source of revenue for the government, but if it could somehow be done away with, I would be all for it. Sure, the government wouldn't be raking in all that money anymore, but I am sure it would also have its benefits.
For example, I remember driving on the 400 Highway which goes to Barrie with my friend's dad when I was younger. Some of you may have seen, as I have, the section of farm land with beautiful rich black soil. My friend's dad told me that it is some of the most fertile land in the province, and that is where they grow tobacco. That does not seem right to me either.
Post a Comment