1st day of no-smoking.....

blobbyh

I gave up smoking four weeks ago today and it's been easier than I thought. However I'm never going to become of those holier than thou ex-smokers who lectures others. People have the right to smoke as long as it doesn't hurt others. I researched the true cost of smoking to the NHS and the tax payer in general and it made interesting reading.

Smoking allegedly* costs the NHS around £2bn per year. However, smokers generate £10bn of tax for the government so the government has a net profit of £8bn per year: just like drinkers and car users, smokers more than pay their way. Drinking costs the NHS around £25bn per year but doesn't suffer the same stigma as smoking since nearly all indulge in it. So principles can clearly be switched on or off to suit (y)ourselves.

*I say alledgedly here since anyone who smoked in around 2000-2002 will remember that a packet of fags went up by something like 20%, far more than the cost of inflation, with the excuse being that the extra funds would contribute to the cost of their future healthcare. So smokers have been paying their way for yonks and NHS arguments for the past ten years are arguably whining just for the sake of whining. But then you can never please the public sector anyway, it always wants more.

There's also the argument that if ALL smokers did actually stop smoking, the cost to normal tax payers would increase. That tax shortfall has to be made up somewhere and it would fall on everyone, smokers and non-smokers, to fill that £10bn whole. Smokers would be much much better off since any income tax rise would be nothing compared to the massive savings they'd make on not buying fags anymore. But would non-smokers be happy to make it up? I think not.

Greens... screw 'em.

Daz1865

Haha, good point. That 2 billion 'cost' to the NHS is also debatable You never hear about the economic benefits of people dying earlier. There must be a whole host of savings there due to people dying earlier, i.e. reduced bills on prolonging their life in another way, social care and reduction of other routine operations/illnesses. That's not even mentioning pension and welfare savings.

On a similar note, I dread to think what Diabetes and Obesity cost the NHS. Why is it socially acceptable to be a fatty but not a smoker? :001_tongue:

blobbyh

Daz1865 wrote: »

Why is it socially acceptable to be a fatty but not a smoker? :001_tongue:

'cos 'fatties' have a whole host of excuses for their 'condition' and will often spend their lives in self denial while practically all smokers will readily admit, "Yep, I know it's bad for me but so what?". That's not to say I don't have some sympathy for obese people, just don't tell me it's a psychological condition akin to schizophrenia or insanity.

People eat because they're stressed, people smoke because they're stressed. There are some who feel sorry for the former while no-one feels sorry for the latter and smokers don't expect it.