Call For Annual £10 Smoking Licence

[y2k]

Press Assoc. - Saturday, February 16 01:15 pm
Forcing smokers to apply for a £10 permit to buy cigarettes could help people to quit, a government health adviser said.
Professor Julian Le Grand, chairman of Health England, said more people might stop smoking if they had to "opt in" by applying for an annual permit and paying a £10 fee.
"Some 70% of smokers actually want to stop smoking. So if you just make it that little bit more difficult for them to actually re-start or even to start in the first place, yes I think it will make a big difference," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
He said some people would be deterred from smoking if they had to make the effort to fill in a complicated form, get a photograph taken and pay a charge.
"It's a little bit of a problem to actually do it, so you have got to make a conscious decision every year to opt in to being a smoker," he added.
The proposal is one of Health England's suggestions for preventing illness which has been sent to health minister Lord Darzi Simon Clark, of smokers' rights group Forest, said the smoking permit proposal was outrageous.
"We are becoming not just a nanny state but a bully state," he said.
"Smokers already face record levels of taxation and this would be another financial hit on them. Tobacco is a perfectly legal product.
"There are a whole host of things out there that are potentially dangerous. If smokers are targeted in this way, it's a very short step to slapping a similar charge on anyone who wants to buy alcohol or any other product ministers don't approve of."

Well thats one of the most stupid ideas I have ever heard, it would never work!!!

[wellladida]

a tenner and having to fill out a form wouldnt be a detterent i dont think the goverment would be allowed to intorduce permits purely on the basis that smoking is bad for you this is just a case of someone trying to get their "15 minetes of fame"

[Lawrenzini]

As a former smoker it sounds like an ok idea to me. It stops people impulsivly start smoking again when they are particularly stressed or whatever.

[paul1967]

Now I do not smoke and never have ,but I get more greef from some one p*ssed than I ever did from a smoker its about time they targeted them,as I recon there more dangerous to your health.As I.m sure with the police man power and the NHS bill it now costs the taxpayer more.

[rude-dog]

ive heard it all now... whatever next? a license for speaking?

[danmc_82]

Im an anti-smoker so im quite pleased about it. Dont think it will happen but I can only hope

[signs]

Having given up the smokes for two weeks now ..i say Birch all smokers





(nothing worse than an a ex smoker )

[danmc_82]

Originally Posted by signs

Having given up the smokes for two weeks know ..i say Birch all smokers





(nothing worse than an a ex smoker )

Good luck with it

[signs]

Originally Posted by danmc_82

Good luck with it

Thanks i'm cool with it just on 20 pints a day now

[Dony]

Originally Posted by signs

Having given up the smokes for two weeks now ..i say Birch all smokers





(nothing worse than an a ex smoker )

wanna be in my gang???

[adam4478]

This has very little to do with making money or deterring smokers as that's under 2 packs of ciggies and won't come close to the money that tax increases cover on cigarettes anyway.

this is about the government building a database of smokers so that they can refuse NHS treatment etc and save money from a (soon to be bankrupt) organisation that is actually funded by the tax paid on cigarettes

yet another ****ing ridiculous idea from some pen pushing idiot which is so stupid it can only be to cover up real objectives... this country gets worse with this rubbish every year

rant over...VIVE LA REVOLUTION

[dan54]

Originally Posted by adam4478

This has very little to do with making money or deterring smokers as that's under 2 packs of ciggies and won't come close to the money that tax increases cover on cigarettes anyway.

this is about the government building a database of smokers so that they can refuse NHS treatment etc and save money from a (soon to be bankrupt) organisation that is actually funded by the tax paid on cigarettes

yet another ****ing ridiculous idea from some pen pushing idiot which is so stupid it can only be to cover up real objectives... this country gets worse with this rubbish every year

rant over...VIVE LA REVOLUTION

Totally agree.When is this all going to stop? Why does yet another barmy idiot have to come up with another ridiculous idea just to justify their job?
Whats to stop 4 smokers chipping in £2.50 each and 1 person buying say 800 fags at a time for all of them? Or are they going to limit buying amounts as well?
What about coming back from abroad are you going to have to flash your passport AND smoking permit when going through customs?
As I've said before on anti-smoking threads on here before, to those who are pro this sort of thing, wait until it starts to affect something you like because the way things are going it wont be long.

[Praxidike]

Why don't they just make it illegal?

[rude-dog]

Originally Posted by Praxidike

Why don't they just make it illegal?

sssssh! they havn't thought of that yet!

[adam4478]

they can't afford to lose the money from the NHS penpushers and immigration fund