© Sputnik / Vladimir Vyatkin Sputnik / Vladimir VyatkinFILE PHOTO. A plate in a smoking room in a trade center in Moscow.
The draft document, officially dubbed "Concept for implementing state policy to counter consumption of tobacco," will eventually get cigarettes out of Russian shops, health officials say, "which will ensure maximum decrease of mortality from tobacco-related diseases". It would be a great boon to national healthcare, since each year some 500,000 Russians die of such causes, they say.
Tobacco addicts however should not panic just now. The ministry says the plan will decrease smoking by 0.5 percent points a year, resulting in about 5 percent of people still affected by the habit in 30 years. Then tobacco products would gradually be phased out of stores.
The government is currently trying to disincentivize smokers by slowly raising excise duty. In previous years, restrictions on smoking in public areas and displaying cigarettes in shops were imposed in Russia.
Comment: It seems Russia, like much of the planet, has succumbed to the anti-smoking lie - for now. Because, while many European countries have gone full dictator, there are signs that Russia does take a more objective view towards matters and has been at the forefront of a number of unconventional scientific endeavours. And so perhaps they'll come to see the many benefits of tobacco smoking:
- Nicotine - The Zombie Antidote
- New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection
- Pestilence, the Great Plague and the Tobacco Cure
- A comprehensive review of the many health benefits of smoking Tobacco
- Let's All Light Up!
- Can Smoking be GOOD for SOME People?
- Aliens Don't Like to Eat People That Smoke!
- Tobacco - Smokin' the propaganda peddlers
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