The Tobacco Fight

27 euros — the price for a concert ticket, for a night in a London hostel, for the newest “Game of Thrones”- Season or for only one package of cigarettes in Australia. Supporting the fight against tobacco, the Australian government invests huge amounts of money in their anti-smoking campaigns each year. Similar things could happen in Germany soon, said Helmut Weber, head of the “Nichtraucher-Schutzbund”, who dreams of a smoke-free German society.

In many European countries smoking is forbidden in most public places. This year, on 20th May, a short time before the “World No Tobacco Day” on 31st May, cigarette boxes with shocking images of cancer, tumours and smoker’s legs as well as photos of damages on lung and teeth, that are already popular in over thirty other countries, are prescribed in Germany. Moreover it is no longer allowed to sell cigarettes that contain menthol. But this is only a small step towards Weber’s goal. It would be more effective to raise the prices and abolish cigarette advertisements, he states.

As a non-smoker, who has never even tried a cigarette, I personally do not understand what people like about smoking. The yellow fingers? The persistent smell in clothes and hair? The increased cancer risk? The smoker’s cough? Nevertheless I have always accepted the smokers surrounding me as long as they did not make efforts to persuade me to try a cigarette. In my opinion people should knock themselves out if they want to. Somehow they will always find a way to smoke if they really want to. Laws or rising prices probably will not change that.
However, it is always sensitive to make plans on reducing the rate of smoking and inform people about its danger.

And let us be honest: Cigarettes are no longer cool anyway. Maybe because we do not live in the Golden Twenties anymore. Or because we just cannot compete with Sixties beauty icons like Audrey Hepburn whose accessory, the quellazaire (cigarette holder) really is fashionable.