This may sound harsh - coming from someone whose grandmother died of lung cancer (after smoking from the age of 13) and whose grandfather has to take 30 tablets a day and is still in agony with various smoking related illnesses - but should smokers be treated free of charge by the NHS?
According to the BBC (who perhaps given the current circumstances, we should be slow to believe!) smoking costs the NHS £1.14Bn pounds per year. Many of these individuals may have lived through the era in which tobacco advertising was rampant, holding a cigarette was considered chic, and the effects of doing so considered harmless. By the time they knew they were damaging themselves they were already addicts. Perhaps some concessions should be made for these individuals.
The majority of people who smoke today, however, have had available to them the information that would enable them to make a reasoned decision as to whether to take up such a habit. The question is, should such people be entitled to drain the resources of our country, which could be used to better education, cut waiting lists and fight child poverty?