This works for coal-fired power plants. Many have put forward the idea that the same fate should wait and walking chimney - regular smokers. Yes, we are talking about the license for the opportunity to smoke. Professor of public health at the University of Sydney in Australia Simon Chapman (Simon Chapman), offers such a radical solution to the devastating impact of tobacco on the smokers and passive smokers.

You can believe that this is a brilliant idea, or crazy, or both. The proposal Chapman was published on November 13 in the online journal PLoS Medicine, and it was accompanied by an opposite point of view Jeff Collina (Jeff Collin), Professor of global politics in public health from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Both experts agreed that long-term tobacco use kills about half of all smokers, no other human activities, including the military, is not responsible for more deaths each year.

Moreover, Smoking may cause premature death of over one billion people by the end of this century, if the situation does not change, according to the world health Organization. Apart researchers in how to change things. Chapman says about the necessity of extreme measures.

The argument to obtain a license: Smoking kills

The essence of the proposal Chapman is that the government gave special smart card smokers with the aim of restricting access to tobacco products, and also encourages them to quit Smoking. He proposes to introduce a limit of 50 cigarettes for two weeks for heavy smokers.

Chapman suggests that the payment for the license will be installed in a decent size, it is not small, but not astronomical, however, will force smokers to think about the necessity of its receipt or prolongation. As for the smart card, to get them is not difficult, but at the same time, purchase any tobacco products, they are mandatory.

Those who will ignore established rules, as retailers, and consumers alike, will face serious penalties. For example, in Japan, is already operating such a system when purchasing cigarettes from vending machines.

However, in this place, many people can say that it will create a black market, however, Chapman and on these statements gives a few arguments that you can explore in PLoS Medicine. For example, if the process is not difficult, the smoker will have very little incentive to purchase cigarettes from illegal trades people, and the sellers of the black market, thus, will not have any profit.

"The opponents of the idea quickly can assume that social workers immediately begin to advocate for the introduction of licenses for the use of alcohol, junk food, and also for participation in the "risky" activity," added Chapman. "This argument rests on weak public understanding of the value of harm than other total daily health risks".
The fight against Smoking: counterarguments

However, Colleen completely disagree with Chapman. He believes that the issuing of licenses for Smoking is unrealistic for the realization of the idea for most States, with the possible exception of Singapore and other countries with developed infrastructure and the relatively strict rules of social policy.

Colleen said that the introduction of licenses will lead to increased stigmatization of smokers, and also for the shift of focus from the tobacco industry, which, in his opinion, is the real culprit of the global epidemic area. "One of the main problems facing any strategy is that the movement towards freedom from tobacco should take into account the social determinants of health, and to promote equality and social justice. Therefore, a proposal for a license for smokers should be rejected as something that does not match the above", - he explains.

Regardless of the method, some countries, for example, Singapore and New Zealand, said that within one or two generations they plan to completely rid their countries from Smoking. Other developed countries have set a goal to reduce the prevalence of addiction to less than 10 percent of the population. Today, smokers are 20-30 percent of the population.

These countries introduced a ban on cigarette advertising, they are active policy against Smoking, large pictorial warnings are present everywhere, and recently introduced a package of cigarettes in the normal bundles. As the proposal Chapman, these measures have seemed unthinkable a few generations ago.

Source: www.livescience.com