In the United States it was TEA, in India it was Cloth, in China it was Rice., no matter what the item, when your government starts running itself through over-taxation it is time to speak LOUDLY....
This will stimulate criminally minded individuals and groups into action. An increase in crimes like aggrevated robbery and burglary of tobacco suppliers would be one example of the effect this policy will have. When prohibitive policies go too far, the criminal factor becomes progressively more and more involved in the market because they suddenly become more lucurative. This means more prison cells and more actual victims of crime.If crime does not go down in the next six months, but rather increases as I fear it will, will the serious questions start to be asked about the faith we have in certain ideas on law and order? Or will there be another re-doubling of present responses hoping yet again for the opposite outcome?Once upon a time, between 50 and 60% of the kiwi population smoked tobacco. Now that is down to 21%. This change was not achieved with prison time, fines for smoking, or even the death penalty. People have received the message that smoking is not widely acceptable as a form of drug use, isn't this enough lest we risk harming smokers and their families in addition to the already widely known inherant risks to smoking tobacco?
Govt better start looking at building all those new prisons because I will be buying my smokes off the black market when this happens. How many MORE robberies will there be where they are targeting cigarettes and alcohol.Good on you Turia, you've put alot of thought into this one. This is for your own agenda, govt makes a fortune in tax from smokers. Get out of your car and walk... your pollution is doing more harm to my lungs than my smoking is doing to yours. It's p***ing me off that you keep trying to play god and you can guarantee that my vote won't be going your way. And John Key needs to stop being a 'brown tongue' by catering to the Maori party.