Australian tax on a single cigarette is 81 cents. Later this year, the tax will be bumped up to 91 cents per cigarette. Unsurprisingly, the black market for tobacco is thriving.

Smokers paid the government $11.5 billion dollars last year: 17 times the 'burden’ some bureaucrat says they impose on the health system.

There is probably little sympathy for smokers these days, but there should be even less for a greedy government using 'concern’ for health as a blind for greedy revenue raising.

Governments aren't concerned about the health of smokers.

IF they were they'd be actively promoting vaping rather than trying to suppress it.

They'd do better to only allow pure tobacco to be sold legally and to allow it's cultivation for private use.

Talking about smoking, health, and government taxes -
what about Australia's cannabis industry? That's
something that cannot be ignored.

We're told that about seven people a day are being
approved for medical cannabis as new research suggests
the $18 million industry could be worth billions
within a decade.

Australia's cannabis industry could grow even more with
a recreational market worth up to $8.8 billion annually
in a decade if it is legalised soon.

There's more on this link:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/australias-cannabis-industry-set-to-boom-report/news-story/8900ec761318b3b66f90c254c23d9948

Foxy,

I'm more than a little suspicious about the medical benefits of cannabis given the constant urging in some quarters for the legalising of cannabis and other currently illegal drugs. I could be wrong, of course, but the promotion and lobbying for cannabis could just be a blind for legalising more dangerous, recreational drugs, benefiting dealers and enslaving addicts. I think it is also linked to the call for 'pill testing' I have studied herbal medicine as a hobby, and I am convinced that what worked prior to the modern age when chemical drugs were not available is best left in the past.

ttbn,

There are so many people currently being helped by
medical cannabis. About seven people a day are
being approved for medical cannabis as new research
suggests the $18 million industry will be worth
billions within a decade. I think that the cannabis
industry is set to boom. The more is learned about
this drug the better equipt our society will be to
handle it properly. However we should not deny
medical help to those who need it.