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Butt out
A confession here. I have never been a smoker, if you discount the few puffs my cousin and I took as rebellious kids with our secret stash of cigs behind the auto glass store on the edge of the town where we grew up. From the very first puff, that burning in my throat told me this was not for me.
Obviously, somewhere along the line, I lost track of just how expensive a habit this was.
It’s for that reason I was more than a bit jarred while standing in line at my local Wawa when the person in front of me bought a carton of cigarettes. I almost dropped my coffee. His tab came to a cool $50. No, he wasn’t buying lunch for the office. He had a cup of coffee, a donut, and a carton of cigarettes.
These days a pack of butts will set you back more than five bucks.
I’m flabbergasted. Or maybe I’m just cheap. One reason I’m fairly certain I never smoked is because I know I would never fork over that kind of money to feed my “fix.”
No doubt smokers winced again this week when the new federal taxes on tobacco kicked in. The cost of their tobacco craving just went up another 62 cents. That pushes the price of a pack of cigarettes close to $6.
The idea, I suppose, is partly to raise revenue, and also partly to get people to kick the habit.
Talk about kicking people when they’re down. It’s kind of like watching your life savings go up in smoke. Only this time it is just that.
One more reason to butt out, folks.
Obviously, somewhere along the line, I lost track of just how expensive a habit this was.
It’s for that reason I was more than a bit jarred while standing in line at my local Wawa when the person in front of me bought a carton of cigarettes. I almost dropped my coffee. His tab came to a cool $50. No, he wasn’t buying lunch for the office. He had a cup of coffee, a donut, and a carton of cigarettes.
These days a pack of butts will set you back more than five bucks.
I’m flabbergasted. Or maybe I’m just cheap. One reason I’m fairly certain I never smoked is because I know I would never fork over that kind of money to feed my “fix.”
No doubt smokers winced again this week when the new federal taxes on tobacco kicked in. The cost of their tobacco craving just went up another 62 cents. That pushes the price of a pack of cigarettes close to $6.
The idea, I suppose, is partly to raise revenue, and also partly to get people to kick the habit.
Talk about kicking people when they’re down. It’s kind of like watching your life savings go up in smoke. Only this time it is just that.
One more reason to butt out, folks.
posted by Heron's Nest at
7:16 AM
2 Comments:
I was a smoker 3 years ago and quit. I think they should raise them up to $10.00 a pack and/or ban them all together. They are an addiction just like drugs and have chemicals in them that people don't even consider when they smoke. I also believe that people who smoke and are diagnosed with cancer or other illnesses due to their smoking, shouldn't be able to sue the tobacco companies as they are well aware that smoking can cause cancer and/or other medical problems. Quit, You will feel much better in the long run and save a load of money.
Phil-
The tobacco industry has been a protected drug dealer (nicotine) for a long time. This is despite they fact that they add poisonous chemicals like ammonia to enhance the addictive nature of the nicotine, while denying the addictive nature of nicotine.
For all the crying about how much the tobacco companies would lose, the medical costs and misery to everybody (especially the smokers) experiences far exceeds the value of having a tobacco industry.
This is an industry that sells an addictive product that kills 1/3 of the people that use it as directed, and markets it to kids.
We are spending a trillion dollars going after terrorists that killed 3000 people, while the tobacco industry kills more that than every day.
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