The recent big pension rise has a great potential to undermine the effectiveness of tobacco excise in reducing tobacco demand among a great many full-rate pension recipients. Also rising incomes, as pensions generally increase in line with MTAWE, have made tobacco more affordable as excise has not kept pace. I put it to the writer, and all posters here, that tobacco excise needs another big increase, initially 10c per stick and in another 6 months a further 10c per stick, in order to achieve further demand reductions as currently demand has plateaued and not going down at a great rate at present.

Also society has the smoking in multi-unit residential buildings problem. In the Strata division of my state's tenancy tribunal (CTTT) an owners corporation can prohibit smoking wholly in the building even on individual lots, protecting neighbours from smoke drift into windows from neighbours etc. However as a government housing tenant I don't have this right and am daily assaulted by the foul and toxic emissions of neighbours in the building. My local MP, now the Premier, would not assist me, and the Greens, with I assume an eye to their Pot-smoker constituency, also ignore the issue and would not support total smoking prohibition in multi-unit sites so smokers' neighbours don't have to cop all the toxic gases and foul stench.

I had me last fag in 1989. I can not handle the foul stink of someone that smokes. Last week we were dining at a local sports club, unfortunately our reservation was near the door that leads to the smoking area. The night was busy and every time someone opened the door a great rush of cigarette smoke entered the dining area.
Next reservation i make there, i will be stipulating where i want to be seated.
I recon $100 / pack sounds fare to me.
Stinking filthy dirty habbit.

Good article. If pot killed as many people as other drugs or obesity or car accidents then their might be some validity to it being banned. As it stands it is demonised by vested interests corrupt politicians and stupid godbotherers.
Having said that pot is virtually legal here compared to many places. If you keep it to yourself and dont go out selling it at raves etc the police have very little interest. Just look at the explosion of hydro shops in oz. They aint there for tomato gardeners LOL.

You anti smokers are beginning to get on my nerves. As if in your separate apartment you can smell your neighbors durrys while ignoring the pollution from cars, trucks, buses, factories, aircraft, your own wastes and all the other assaults on our health and senses. No only the ciggie smoker is to blame. When you start slagging off all pollution I will take you seriously on how much tobacco smoke effects your lives.

Oh and P.S. If your anti smoking rant was because you fear pot smoke. It is possible and preferable(health wise) to vaporise or eat pot rather than smoke it and if it was legal that would be the way most people would use it.

Good article!

Let's take the profit motive out of it for criminal gangs, bikies and other related thugs. Plus property crime would halve overnight.

I warn you though, get ready for the brainwashed masses to come running at you with the usual idiotic rants about keeping our children safe from the evils of drugs, since "tough on drugs" is obviously working so well at present, isn't it?

What say you, runner?

WTF?

Prohibition has never worked.

The use of drugs either legal or not has always been tagged to profits for someone or some corporation.

The criminalisation of marijuana can be linked to the rise in nylon manufacturing.

The removal of opiates from once commonly used painkillers and cough medicines can be linked to U.S. purchasing contracts of Tasmanian opium.

It would be a far softer ride for the taxpayer if drug distribution was controlled rather then the current waste of police and judicial time and prison space.

The gutter rats are surfacing. Everybody is allowed their space in this world.
A handfull of people are resisting the trend not to smoke.
Others are ignorant.
And the rest are playing out as if it were their last day.
There ain't any religion in this at all. I hate religion.
Filthy dirty rotten stinking mongrels.