About Plain Packaging on Cigarettes

Yeah the government is pushing it hard now. While I don't smoke myself and I am totally against smoking I don't really know how much this will help in terms of stopping people smoking or stopping getting people into smoking.

At the moment cigarettes sold in Australia are required to have disgusting depiction of symptoms of diseases caused by smoking printed on, and I've heard jokes about collecting addicts getting their hands on it even if they are non-smokers, "I have lung cancer already, give me ED this time!". But I was shocked when I heard a long term smoker telling me that he doesn't really look at the package when buying cigarettes, that he was so fed up with all those education about how bad smoking is and stuff. He knows as good as anyone else that smoking is bad, but he's just not willing to stop it. If this is the norm amongst smokers then a plain packaging will certainly not help the matter.

This actually makes me think, does the package really matter? What smokers are buying is not the package but what's inside anyway. And as long as the cigarettes are the same I don't think they'd change their mind.

Does it stop people from getting into smoke then? I can't tell for sure but I don't know the chance of a kid starts smoking only because the package looks pretty. And from what I've heard most smokers I know got talked into smoking by their friends when they first started (most probably in middle or high school), other than that there was bad example of smoking parents or relatives. This is not statistically significant but I have not heard of anyone started smoking because they think the package is pretty.

In one word, the problem is cigarettes, not the packaging.

So am I coming up with a better solution? I can't really ban tobacco sales right? The government needs the tax money (whether it was for treating smoking-related diseases or not). Hmm I was thinking how about pulling the plug of health insurance for smokers? Like if the amount you smoke gives a +5% chance of getting lung cancer then you won't be able to claim your health insurance from either government or private health insurance funds when you actually get it. Of course that one bleached human rights for smokers, but that does stop them smoking when you think of it and when you really wanted them to stop smoking. And the best part, the government still keep the tax money from smokers but is not spending it on them anymore.