[Guinness]

Things need putting in perspective here..

a) Smoking is bad for everyone, smoker and non-smoker
b) Smoking therefore needs removing from society
c) Some smokers are addicted and will never stop
d) Banning smoking will create unemployment and cause more crime due to the lucrative business of supplying addicts

Solution....
a) make it extremely difficult for people to become addicts and not cause unemployment to rise too much

How to do this..

a) health warnings, harsh tv advertising, education etc..turn the smokers into modern day lepers...10% give up due to peer pressure
b) reduce the possible number of places that people can smoke..10% give up because they dont like freezing to death stood outside the workplace in winter
c) tax the crap out of smokers..20% pack it in because of costs
d) as the majority of the smoking population ages, they begin to see the effects of smoking on their own friends, family etc.. another 10% manage to get on the wagon because of fear
e) due to the above gradual reductions in smokers, workers in the cigarette industry are laid off in 10% increments, thus not causing unemployment figures to rise too sharply
f) the pro smoking lobby is now not as strong, the tobacco industry begins to lose money and cant spend as much hiding the fact that they are placing needless EXTREMELY harmful and UNNECESSARY addictive additives in each cigarette..another 10% give up when they realise they are smoking cyanide!
g) smoking is banned in pubs..there is an outcry..BUT..the majority do not smoke anymore..the smoker is a leper..he/she is also over 40 and does not spend as much money or time in this pub...no real problems are caused by this ban...another 5% give up because nobody else seems to be smoking around them
h) time now to put in even more stringent anti smoking laws (the point we are now at)

Whine all you want about civil liberties, muddy the waters by talking about vehicle pollution, alcoholics, drug users etc... Fact is, smoking is bad for EVERYONE!

A friend of mine told me that in South Africa you can be fined for smoking in a car that has a child in it.
20 years ago...people would have said that 'My God! What an infringement on civil liberties, can't even smoke in your own car!'
Today people (even smokers) will say 'quite right too, you should never smoke in an enclosed space with children'
20 years from now some pensioner will say 'I remember when I used to have a fag at the bus stop on my way to work' and others will express dismay at them and say 'You actually used to smoke near others??????? I'd have smacked you in the mouth for threatening my life like that!''

You want to smoke in the privacy of your own home, without causing distress to anyone else..go right ahead, I'll fight for your right

And for every 70 year old smoker currently above ground there are 10 below because of a smoking related disease.