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Smoking, for some people is an everyday essential in life, but for others, they class smoking, horrible and harmful to the people is the smoker themselves and also for people around them. The NHS spends between £2.7bn and £5.2bn on smoking related diseases every year. This is disgraceful. This could be spent on finding an HIV/AIDs cure or finding a cure for cancer (not smoking related). Did you know that last year in the UK more than 100,000 smokers in our own country die from smoking related causes [1], for example lung disease? Increasing the amount we pay to smoke cigarettes could substantially decrease these deaths.
Previously in the 1950’s there was no stern exploration taken into the effects of smoking. It was only the discovery of lung cancer that brought up the first brought up the suspicion that smoking could be bad for you. Smoking is an international concern, most people who do smoke in less developed countries die of smoking related diseases (lung cancer, heart disease or emphysema). This therefore has shown that the severity of this issue is huge and one of the ways to decrease the smoking population globally is to increase prices of cigarettes.
Smokers cost the NHS £2.7bn-£5.2bn every year, this expenditure was predominantly spent on treating diseases caused my smoking; this is due to the toxic fumes. A recent interview with Mr Raza, a vascular surgeon for the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, mentioned that his department will ‘not see people who are still smoking’ and that smokers did not fair as well with treatment as non-smokers. [2] If the government were to increase the prices for cigarettes, this will help support the NHS if they were still going to treat smokers, plus will advance research into the diseases and without doubt the extra money will also help with services that need to be performed due to the smoker such as cleaning the streets of buds [3] and fire incidents caused by lit cigarettes often throwing into plastic bins. If the prices were increased then this would deter the smokers in buying cigarettes, which may help them to stop smoking for life, however, this could also may lead to an increase in e-cigarettes and vaporisers these are less harmful alternatives which will improve the health of the smoker and also will not lead to passive smoking (when smoke is ingested in someone whilst passing). Who would dispute that smoking is good for your wellbeing? In conclusion, smokers would pay more for their cigarettes to pay for public services that would suit them. As cigarette prices rise through taxation by at least 10% every time this prevents pregnant women from smoking so in fact stops abortions and saves babies from experience adverse effects of smoking such as mutations and organ disease.
Every packet has the same words on it, SMOKING KILLS. Lung cancer is causing a lot of deaths in the UK and internationally. Also smoking kills those who inhale it through passing a smoker. Something needs to be done and something needs to be done fast. What is more important peoples lives or the money that smoking organisations make? Peoples’ lives, of course, corporate businesses supplying tobacco to the public make heaps of money from sales. This must change.
Smokers disagree with the growing prices of cigarettes as they say it is a lifestyle choice that, conversely some people don’t choose to smoke meaning smoking isn’t a fundamental lifestyle and cannot provide stress relief or pleasure, furthermore smoking has long-term effects such as shorter life and prolonged effects in their body. So before you buy cigarettes think, do you really need them? Do you want the long-term effects that smoking brings? Do want to waste your life?
The benefits to the government of a growth in tax would also be important, mostly in enlarged revenue, but could also be in saving money on benefits paid out due to illness, pensions and security benefits. These benefits are all paid out as a result of smoking related disease such as lung cancer. If we reduce the amount of smokers in the UK because of an increase in price also the benefit payouts would, in turn, be greatly cut because fewer people would be smoking. Productivity in the workplace is affected due to smoking, did you know smoking breaks and absenteeism amongst smokers due to ill-health costs around 34 million lost days each year in England and Wales alone! We just can’t let this issue last.
According to Statistics by ASH (an antismoking organisation) show that it is more common for poorer people to smoke cigarettes, if we raise prices than this might eradicate the lesser fortunate community of cigarettes. If they didn’t spend their money on harmful stuff, then they may be better off. They could buy more food, a better house or just have a better quality of living. These statistics indicated that 33% of people who smoke are self-employed or on benefits this could play a major part in the effect of an escalation in costs. [4]
Personally, I have experienced a chain smoker in my family, my granddad who spent a lot of money on buying cigarettes or to put it bluntly, buying an earlier grave. If my granddad didn’t buy those cigarettes then he may have had more money to spend on my future or to spend on his prolonged future. After his best friend died of a smoking related disease, he stopped and now he has more money to put into live saving that will help other people when he is no longer with us. Cigarettes are not good for you as shown by research everywhere in the UK; it could take 5 years off your life. Why bother with the negative impacts? Stop smoking today and build a better future.
Of course, it is not just smokers who are putting themselves in danger. It is those who are around them are also known for having health problems, too. Contact to other people’s tobacco smoke has been shown to cause lung cancer and heart disease in adult non-smokers. Second-hand smoke contact also harms infants and children, with an increased risk of respiratory contaminations, increased severity of asthma indications, and an increased risk of cot decease.
Actions of Smoking Health (ASH) made it clear children that there is 207,000 children in the UK that start smoking every year [5]. Remember these are children. Not adults. Shouldn’t we be thinking of the children? We need to increase the prices of tobacco to protect our children from being another statistic either in deaths by smoking, lung cancer caused by smoking or just smokers underage. We need to protect future generations. We need to protect our children because the cost is simply just too low for the price a smoker pays.
Finally, when we think of the emotions our families and friends must go through when someone they know has a smoking related disease and even worse dies due to smoking. The NHS is suffering with the high influx of smoker coming for help and getting diagnosed with the worst. The social economy is suffering as more antisocial behaviour is occurring due to underage smokers burning rubbish bins. When we find out that over 200,000 children start smoking every year. This must be our incentive to increase the tobacco tax and make a significant change in society.