WITH the Government in a turmoil over advertising tobacco products on television, campaigners for restriction are once again having a go at the people who smoke.

The revenue contributed to the Government by those who smoke is, to put it mildly, extortionate. We pay more in revenue than we do for the actual cigarettes and, therefore, help to increase the shekels gathered by the Government.

It amazes me to think that if I were a drug addict, I could go to my doctor and get a prescription to subsidise my habit, or perhaps if I were an alcoholic, I would be able to claim an extra amount each week to pay for my beer.

That being the case, why can't I get my habit subsidised by the Government?

I am sick of listening to people who constantly go on about us smokers. I have smoked since I was 10 and have never needed hospital treatment for a smoking-related illness. But think of the revenue that I have paid during my lifetime so that others can have their hip replacement, or the drug addict can have his 'fix' on the National Health, or the alcoholic can claim his £7-plus per day to spend at the off-licence.

I pay for my habit and don't need anyone to tell me that I am a drain on the NHS or that I take up a bed that someone else needs.

If ever I do need a bed in hospital, then rest assured that I have contributed for the right to be there.

All those do-gooders should look into their own lives and remedy the faults that they have. Then perhaps they will leave us smokers alone to enjoy our habit.

J S GOLDEN, Lower Cross Street, Darwen.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.