[Shasown]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

I think this is the most sensible post I have ever seen you make to be honest.

Media goes into meltdown because of a couple of deaths, which they cant even prove were directly due to the drug (which is kind of like saying I ate a chocolate bar while crossing the road and got knocked over, it was the chocolate bars fault). Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of deaths are caused by something the government makes a sh*tload of money out of, these should be ignored, because the goverment is benefitting from it.

Of course it would be more practical to spend more on getting people off drink and tabs, but they will not do that, as money is more important than peoples lives...but they have to be seen to be doing something, so they focus on the couple of high profile deaths that have hit the papers recently. Honestly...more people are killed by falling coconuts than by this, whats next? Ban coconuts?

Sorry to be pedantic here it isnt actually a case of "making sh*tloads of money from them", its the fact if cigarettes or alcohol were banned or even severely restricted, the cost of treating the current and future casualties caused by the current and past use of those substances would in fact leave the NHS bankrupt. The treatment costs are more than offset by the revenue gained from usage.

The current policy is gradually limiting the use and educating in the hope of reducing use or abuse while still ensuring income will come in from those using them. It is then hoped that costs of treatment will fall in line with revenue generated leaving a reasonable balance between income and costs.

Even if everyone stopped drinking and smoking today, there would still be future costs for the treatment of their use, such as long term current and future, degenerative liver disease, cirrhosis of the liver, lung cancers, emphysema, asthma, etc. but greatly reduced income to the exchequer to pay for it all.

How many people were killed in the UK last year as a result of falling coconuts btw?