A Licence To Smoke

From The Age: 

Now Butt Out: New Push Seeks To Outlaw Cigarettes

''The government should consider issuing smokers with a licence to smoke, which would involve them passing a test, not dissimilar to a driving test,''

''They would get a swipe card with their photo on it and - just like the pre-commitment gambling card - they could say how much they wanted to smoke a day. If it was 10 cigarettes a day you'd get a category one licence, 20 cigarettes would be a category two and there would be a higher cost to the card if you wanted to smoke more. The most anyone could buy would be 60 a day.''

OK, Australian smokers could stand for this if they choose. They could consent to being treated as sub-human. They could consent to be tested, categorised and asked 'show me your papers' (No problem Officer Blockleiter. They're Rizzla, see?) each and every time they light up.

Or they could just grow their own tobbaco for personal use. Although, to the best of my knowledge, the Australian Tax Office recoil in terror at the very thought of this and so it has been deemed illegal. Therefore, you would be deemed a criminal for doing so.

Well then, it's either;

Consent to be treated as a sub-human. Tested, categorised and asked for my papers by rank and file officers under orders from ideological zealots, or become a criminal.

Much of a muchness really.

 And so a life of crime it is.

H/T - Dick Puddlecote for his post:
'A Message To The Australian People'

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