Waste not want not
I accidentally came across a little item in the papers today.
One in five 17-year-olds are âunhealthy smokers and drinkersâ – ESRI report
Ponder upon this gem for a moment.
As far back as I can remember [which I grant isn’t quite so far these days] they have been doing their damndest to stop kids taking up the habit.
They have racked up the price to insane levels. They have banned advertising. They have hidden all smokes behind closed doors. They have banned the sale of ten cigarettes. They have made the packaging as ugly as possible. They have banned menthol cigarettes. They have banned smoking from as many places as they can. They have brainwashed kids into nagging their parents. All of this has been on top of the old law which bans the sale of cigarettes to anyone under eighteen.
Yet one in five 17-year-olds are smoking and drinking? How come?
Could it be possible that all the Anti-Smoker efforts have all been in vain? Could those efforts be nothing more than a massive irritant to smokers?
Could those Anti-Smoker “charities” be utterly useless and just a waste of public resources?
Surely not?
Are unhealthy smokers who don't drink in a different category?
Ditto unhealthy drinkers who don't have a puff.
What about the healthy ones.
Then there is food, dangerous sports, sugar, sex, all the different smoking substances.
My God, with all the combinations and permutations of these hazards there is enough study material to last an interfering fussbucket for a lifetime.
All it needs are grants.
Then there are all the other ages. Oh, bossyboots Nirvana.
Give us your money, NOW.
ALL OF IT.
Just follow the cash trail….
Dear Grandad
All the anti-smoker rhetoric is <i>de facto</i> tobacco advertising. The anti-smokers aren't that stupid: they know the more you bang on about smoking the more kids will be attracted to giving it a go.
It'll keep generations of them busy for many working lifetimes to come.
DP
It's not working, send more money.