Foxy,

You have the advantage of me. I'm not aware that “ About seven people a day are being approved for medical cannabis”. Nor do I know whether it is actually working. There is often a gap between what people say and reality.

Your '$18,000 million industry' pretty much sums up that the focus is on money rather than medical intervention. I am all for anything to help people suffering, but I've been around too long not to know what the prime movers for new, you beaut, magical cures are.

ttbn,

You should read the link I gave earlier.
It gives you all the information that I
have - and the report on which this information
is based. Worth a read.

And I should believe the Murdoch press? You don't as a rule.

ttbn,

The information given was based on a report. The Murdoch press just printed it. I use a variety of sources - providing they're
credible.

How much of that 81cents is subsidised into the price of nicotine patches or spray if I want to give up?
- Cant be much because they're just as expensive -

Are nicotine patches and spray even GST free?
I bet not.

FACT: The government profit from peoples addictions;
But do nothing tangible to actually help people give up.

Do any of you understand just how ethically backwards this system actually is?
You might as well have the PM himself selling crack to primary school kids, the outcome would be less harmful as a whole than regulations that negatively impact the entire nation.

Obviously, it's all about the money.

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

I remember Leyonhjelm made that claim some time back as well but I never found a source for it.
Do you know if there is one?

Nicotine patches, vaping, counselling. There were none of those things when I stopped smoking 25 years ago. You just stopped, started again, then stopped for good- eventually. It took me 2 years to get over never smoking again. It wasn't easy, but I took some pride in doing it on my own, without any cajoling or bullying from the nanny state or 'replacement' drugs and sops. My reason for giving it up: I hated paying the ever increasing tariffs to the bloody government. Health? Couldn't have cared less about that.