The real reasons for the attack on cigarette and the flimsy excuse of health protection

By Sonia Chaimanta

Deep acting, totally ineffective, dangerously blurred and certainly grossly "undemocratic" is the "hustle" of the state to ban smoking in public places, six years after the relevant ministerial decision, which included (with some exceptions) in the "red" - prohibition zones, areas like: workplaces, entertainment centers, bars and cafes.

The prohibition of the use of an entirely legal product (as is alcohol, petrol which pollutes the environment, high fat foods and a range of harmful products) by the then and the current government, led various reactions to the tobacco industry, the entertainment industry and entertainment while it planted suspicious thoughts to lawyers, academics and ordinary people regarding the true motives, which are none other than the intention of triggering a subterranean and infernal mechanism to suppress a series of rights and freedoms of the citizens.

From 2008 until today, of course, no one can say with confidence that these bans have reduced tobacco consumption, since the repeated tax attacks of fixed and proportional tax harmed dramatically the tobacco market and certainly pushed smokers in use of illegal and contraband products. Which incidentally are uncontrollable and unhealthy and are part of a broader illegal market, including human trafficking, arms trafficking, etc. According to a study of IOBE, the contraband cigarettes "burned" 700 million Euros from tax revenue of the legal market.

Last March, Mrs. Makris wanted so badly the Greeks to stop smoking, so, the Deputy Minister of Health, extend the anti-smoking law and prohibits smoking, (except for public places), in private places used to provide working. But are the workplaces, public?

Who decides about his property; the employer or the government? Is a cafe a public place? Or is it a private shop where clients enjoy their leisure time and consume a legal product? Let's see what says Aeon Skobble, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at the University Bridgewater State, Southeastern Massachusetts in a delightful video that accompanies his argument on "Prohibiting smoking - prohibiting freedom", which publishes Learnliberty.gr.
Watch the video: