jusplay4fun wrote:My comments are in RED to what ThorThorh said:
Of course, they could easily make tobacco products less addicting but the addicts wouldn't buy the less-addicting brands. All that ad-talk about 'flavour' is just code for nicotine content.
I do not know from personal experience and therefore offer no comment on the above "flavour" comment.
Maybe cigarette buyers should have to show proof of smoker-surcharged health insurance before they can buy their smokes?
Trust me, if smokers had to pay for the additional burden they put on the healthcare system only the 1% could smoke.
I understand the argument about health care costs (emphysema, lung cancer, cancer of the breathing areas, such as trachea, etc.)
However, there is one factor overlooked: If someone does not die due to smoking, that person would die of something else, such as a heart attack or a stroke (as two common examples). Does that mean the smoker has higher OVERALL health cost (lung cancer vs. stroke or heart attack, after recovery and rehab and subsequent problems)? NOT necessarily. A slow death to a lung cancer is more painful and usually involved more medical attention and costs versus a sudden heart attack, of course. Here is one key fact: 80% of the health costs are spent on the last 20% of a person’s life: nursing home, assisted living, extra medical care of doctors and other health care workers, medicines, feeding tubes, bad pans, and so much more….). Are stats available? Unlikely, as this is a very complex comparison and the money required to do such a study is not deemed worthy of research, IMO.
...and while it's true that their are some rich people stupid enough to smoke, the general trend runs the other way. it's mostly the poor that choose (initially) to pay to become addicted to poisoning themselves.
It is true that there is a higher percentage of smokers who are poor and that percentage tends to decrease overall as the income rises. As I recall, the lowest percentage of smokers are among the upper middle class, in the USA.
JP4F
jusplay, I don't know why you felt like adding comment. On my first point you were completely ignorant, on my second point you were completely incorrect*, and on my third point you just agreed with me, adding only trivial details.
*smoking is also a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes, in addition to the serious lung ailments you mentioned... and the costs for medication, surgery and recovery for these cardiovascular diseases is in the billions of dollars.
One more thing, jusplay, now that you've decided to switch over from Guide game bore to forum 'commentator', be very careful or people may start comparing you ...
to me! (gasp... lol)
