Licensed to Smoke? England Ponders Having All Smokers Sign Up

by Rob Walker | February 15, 2008 at 01:17 pm

1782 views | 10 Recommendations | 13 comments

The idea here is that most smokers want to quit, and the government wants to make it as difficult as possible to smoke. Anyone wanting to spark up would be forced to go down to the local smoke office, get their picture taken, fill out some forms and then they would be free to smoke for another year.

It's a pain in the ass, and the idea is that will stop a chunk of people from bothering. But will it stop them from smoking? Well, if you need a license to buy a pack of smokes, maybe a little.

Smokers could be forced to pay £10 for a permit to buy tobacco if a government health advisory body gets its way.
No one would be able to buy cigarettes without the permit, under the idea proposed by Health for England.

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He said it was the inconvenience of getting a permit -
as much as the cost - that would deter people from persisting with the
smoking habit.

"You've got to get a form, a complex form - the government's good at complex forms; you have got to get a photograph.

"It's a little bit of a problem to actually do it, so
you have got to make a conscious decision every year to opt in to being
a smoker."

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photo.ghost

at 14:58 on February 15th, 2008

He's actually outside the window of the pub we regularly visit. Just liked the irony :)

photo.ghost has contributed a photo to this story.

Papa le Pew and Son etcetera

at 15:00 on February 15th, 2008

This is a No Smoking sign in Tokyo.
It seems to indicate that you should not be smoking while around this area.However since I do not understand
the Japanese language,there could be more to it.

Papa le Pew and Son etcetera has contributed a photo to this story.

jordan

at 15:18 on February 15th, 2008

Also, it's just another database for them to lose.

SpY

at 15:49 on February 15th, 2008

SpY has contributed a photo to this story.

amyjudd

at 16:06 on February 15th, 2008

I have a lot of friends in England, and most of them smoke - I don't think this will deter them from smoking however. If anything they're going to need a couple of cigarettes to de-stress after standing in line at the local smoke office and filling out a complex form!

conroe-killed-the-k8_star

at 16:08 on February 15th, 2008

Stumbled upon this sign in a Photo-Me booth as it happened.The extent to which the Government is trying to dissuade smokers from lighting up makes me wonder why they don't just put make it illegal to smoke tobacco.Would like it very much if they did do that from a personal standpoint , fresh and clean air does no harm whatsoever.

conroe-killed-the-k8_star has contributed a photo to this story.

SpY

at 16:17 on February 15th, 2008

Here in Sao Paulo - Brazil, they want to forbid to smoke when you drive also.

High and weighed taxes will be applied to who not respect the
laws against the tobacco.

The assault that we suffer every day from the government here is not
enough.

You cannot smoke in public places like coffee shops, restaurants, airports, shopping centers and Commercial Buildings, ok... there are so many problems to decide itself... a cigarette is the BIG PROBLEM...

They lack to forbid you to smoke inside of your proper house.

And inside of your proper car? Is this right?

I guess
this a nonsense and an invasion of privacy.

jordan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 16:30 on February 15th, 2008

Rob Walker, I like this story. It's good stuff.

finalpuff

at 17:56 on February 15th, 2008

My take on this 10 pound permit story. Including a funny James Bond License To Smoke parody.

BigT

at 18:01 on February 15th, 2008

I think this is a great idea! But it doesn't go far enough. They should also have people sign up if they want to eat fast food. Maybe we could get people to sign up if they want to join an online group (groups of people can do very bad things). Perhaps we could have people sign up with the government if they want to have kids.

All of these things can have deleterious effects, why not have the government make sure everything is done safely?

Of course I'm being sarcastic here but I think a lot of people would be all for this because a. they don't smoke, b. smoking does have harmful side effects, and c. smoking has been vilified. But there is bad things that go with everything in life and since the government is doing what it does to "help" us then enough people will support our continuous erosion of rights.

diddrugsonthedashboard

at 15:29 on February 16th, 2008

boredom and cigerettes resulted in this.

diddrugsonthedashboard has contributed a photo to this story.

eirarara

at 01:56 on February 21st, 2008

Despite the sign on this window and every other surface (oh and the law!) in the local Maccy d's that we called into to get a drink, there were numerous people smoking inside and even two staff members lighting up in the loo. What a delight.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ra_ra/2189650081/

eirarara has contributed a photo to this story.