Does the government make a profit or loss? - Smoking Cessation Message Board

Rachel Kn · 07-31-2003, 06:53 AM

Hi.

Can anybody clarify whether the government makes a profit from smoking through tobacco duty and VAT, or does smoking actually cost far more in terms of NHS costs from smoking related illness? I have found various figures and don't know what to believe. It would be good to know, once and for all.

Thank you.

lidia09 · 07-31-2003, 02:05 PM

Hi Rachel
Good question! I don't know the answer I'm afraid but my feelings are that the government makes more than it costs the NHS to treat smokers.

I work for the government & don't think we can believe much of what they tell us when it comes to statistics e.g. number of people unemployed. They just manipulate the statistics to suit themselves & tell us public what they think we should know.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Lidia

lslydov · 08-09-2003, 07:17 PM

The govt may possibly make more than it takes to treat smokers, BUT then you have to add to those figures all the second-hand smoking related illness suffered by the children of smokers who are abused by being forced daily to breathe smoke in the home (and I know some smoking parents are more considerate and smoke only outside, but sadly there still are plenty who are completely selfish and think nothing of smoking indoors around their children), and there are all the non-smoking adults who are damaged for life by growing up in smoke, because we have such conditions as asthma and generally weak chests, isn't it fair that the smokers should pay for the cost of all this as well as for their own self-inflicted illnesses? Also what about people forced to work in smoky places? Smoking harms many more people than the smokers themselves, if it only harmed the smokers themselves I would have no problem supporting their right to smoke wherever and whenever they wanted, if they were only killing themselves, I would say let them get on and do it! But I have a weak and sensitive set of lungs because of childhood exposure to smoke, I'm wheezy and phlegmy (sounding a bit like darth vader right now lol) and have a bad sore throat right now because of our downstairs neighbour's cigarette smoke drifting through our window earlier this evening so I can't go to bed because I have to sit up to breathe, even smoke in the street makes me cough and get sick. No other nasty things in the air affect me this badly the way cig smoke does. I have to go to the doc to pester for some testing to determine what is wrong exactly but I know I am very sensitive or allergic to cigarette smoke, and I've yet to hear of any treatment for that. It makes me mad that smokers get all the free help they want on the NHS to quit and for their self-inflicted diseases and yet I get nothing at all, even though I got these symptoms all the time as a kid even before I knew why I got them. I think smokers should pay for the harm they cause to non-smokers, I feel I have been denied a lifetime of good health due to my mother's addiction and that the tobacco companies should pay to treat their innocent victims.

Lesley

lslydov · 08-09-2003, 07:19 PM

The govt may possibly make more than it takes to treat smokers, BUT then you have to add to those figures all the second-hand smoking related illness suffered by the children of smokers who are abused by being forced daily to breathe smoke in the home (and I know some smoking parents are more considerate and smoke only outside, but sadly there still are plenty who are completely selfish and think nothing of smoking indoors around their children), and there are all the non-smoking adults who are damaged for life by growing up in smoke, because we have such conditions as asthma and generally weak chests, isn't it fair that the smokers should pay for the cost of all this as well as for their own self-inflicted illnesses? Also what about people forced to work in smoky places? Smoking harms many more people than the smokers themselves, if it only harmed the smokers themselves I would have no problem supporting their right to smoke wherever and whenever they wanted, if they were only killing themselves, I would say let them get on and do it! But I have a weak and sensitive set of lungs because of childhood exposure to smoke, I'm wheezy and phlegmy (sounding a bit like darth vader right now lol) and have a bad sore throat right now because of our downstairs neighbour's cigarette smoke drifting through our window earlier this evening so I can't go to bed because I have to sit up to breathe, even smoke in the street makes me cough and get sick. No other nasty things in the air affect me this badly the way cig smoke does. I have to go to the doc to pester for some testing to determine what is wrong exactly but I know I am very sensitive or allergic to cigarette smoke, and I've yet to hear of any treatment for that. It makes me mad that smokers get all the free help they want on the NHS to quit and for their self-inflicted diseases and yet I get nothing at all, even though I got these symptoms all the time as a kid even before I knew why I got them. I think smokers should pay for the harm they cause to non-smokers, I feel I have been denied a lifetime of good health due to my mother's addiction and that the tobacco companies should pay to treat their innocent victims.

Lesley

lidia09 · 08-10-2003, 03:27 AM

I stopped smoking 5 years ago & got absolutely no help from the NHS whatsoever Lesley. What free help is available? I went to my GP & actually asked for help. They had no group sessions like they do for say overweight people, alcoholics or drug addicts. They didn't even have any leaflets to give me. The only advice I got was to phone one of those smoking cessation helplines. The patches cost me a small fortune - not on prescription from the NHS either.

To my mind, smoking is just as hard an addiction to conquer than drugs or alcohol. Yet the NHS provides little support to the smoker except to tell them it'll give them lung cancer etc. However if the NHS put some cash into helping smokers, they might spend less on the cure than the cause in the long run.

It's like the prescribing of asthma drugs. I spoke to a GP who told me that most GP's won't prescribe Advair (Seretide in UK). It's all down to money. The patient pays £6.30 for their prescription but Advair costs about £40 for 60 doses. It's not cost-effective to the NHS so they prescribe the cheap stuff. If they spent the money on the Advair, in the long run, they'd have a smaller queue of asthmatics in their waiting rooms.

Lidia