Wales – the land of the free (sort of)

I’ve just quit smoking. Put out my last fag 10 minutes ago. That’s it. No more.

I’m not expecting praise from the anti-smoking brigade of do-gooder liberals. And I’m not wanting condemnation from the increasingly insignificant bunch of people who claim protecting people from second-hand smoke is an infringement of their civil liberties (frankly they just can’t be bothered getting off their ass to go outside).

The reasons for quitting then? The fact that I feel like a social leper. The fact that I’ll spend around £14k on smoking in the next 10 years. The fact it’s not conducive to a long life. Plus a whole load of other facts brought to my attention on a daily basis in print, TV, radio, online and mobile.

The whole quitting smoking thing mas been bugging me for a while [seeing photos of dead people on the back of your fag packet is hard to ignore]. So last week I popped to my doctors and got a prescription for some – reportedly quite brilliant – pills to help me quit smoking. I started taking them and picked a day in the second week to quit.

That’s today.

‘How does this all relate to Wales’, I hear you ask? Well, the fact I live in this great country (even though they didn’t qualify for the World Cup [Come on Algeria]) means I’m entitled to free prescriptions. Yup, they’re costing me nowt.

Wales truly is the land of the free: Free prescriptions, free swimming for kids and OAPs, free bus passes for OAPs. Free speech. Free to think for oneself…

…yeh, right. You think my decision to quit smoking was just that, my decision? No.

It’s the culmination of billions of pounds of taxpayers cash spent on increasingly aggressive advertising campaigns that has eventually worn me down. My cash. I paid to smoke. I’m paying to quit. Soon I’ll just be paying for other people to quit.

And because I’ll be a non-smoker I’ll be classed as healthier long-term. Less of a burden on the NHS pen-pushers. A far better return for the government on my NI contribution.

And for all those really stubborn smokers who’ll never give up, the government will simply continue to help themselves to the contents of their wallet every time they light up – which I’m sure will more than cover NHS costs treating their debilitating illnesses.

No. Wales isn’t the land of the free when it comes to smoking. If it was they’d either make it illegal or simply leave smokers alone. Not see it as a way making a few quid.

Could be worse though. I could still be living in England and paying for prescriptions. Every cloud and all that.