Next week, life gets a little tougher for smokers in Taiwan. On January 11th, a new law will make it much harder for smokers to smoke anywhere where there are more than a couple of people.
Of course, you may have considered it about time! I know I have. But figure this: Why on earth do people keep smoking? It’s becoming more expensive, fewer places accept any smoking, your life is shorter, your less healthy during it, and it’s much more expensive to purchase certain kinds of life insurance or health-related insurance products. I don’t know if smoker life insurance is really cheaper or not.
Since smoking affects not just those who smoke but those who stand nearby, it seems only right to me that smokers should pay more and more for their habit. It will offset the health care costs of treating all the illnesses caused by smoking: asthma, lung cancer, throat cancer, etc.. of those who smoke as well as those who are secondhand smokers.
"Why on earth do people keep smoking?"
Nicotine reprograms the value center of the brain so that the victim needs it in the same way a normal human needs glucose or sex.
If someone told you that sex would shorten your lifespan by a year, would you give it up for your whole life?
It's something that perplexes me entirely. A couple of years ago we went to Yilan. I fell down and had to seek out a doctor. In the hospital, I saw several hospital workers smoking! I was horrified. You'd think nurses, doctors and consultants would know better..