Interesting read, especially for me being an ex-smoker. I know how hard it is to give up, the lies you tell yourself and others, and how under-rated the real extent of the addiction is.
When I smoked it was always outside, so I could never imagine smoking inside at someone else's place.
It was odd at the Formula 1 this year when a fellow lit up in our stand - I haven't seen anyone flaunt the rules like that in years. People sat there not knowing what to do they were so stunned by this guy smoking there.
We were talking on the footy bus back last night about the early days (we've had a bus of our own to the games for 25 years this year), and how we even smoked on the bus in the early years, I can remember smoking then as well (no kids back then, lots now).
The tax is well in excess of the estimated cost to the health system, its no different to the tax on petrol - nothing like what is gathered is spent on road infrastructure. It's just become part of the consolidated revenue.
