We should learn from history that prohibitions tend not to work, even if the intention is good.
This week I had a brief face-to-face conversation with my good friend Matthew. On the advice of my lawyer/mate Justin, I add that this conversation took place under entirely legal circumstances, and won’t give any specific details of how this meeting occurred.
I should also point out that smoking, next to talking about the clutch system on Porsches made before 1980, is one of Matthew’s favourite pastimes. So it wasn’t particularly unusual that he was smoking during this pleasant chat. What was unusual was the fact that he was smoking a slender cigarette with a somewhat garish gold band around it. A cigarette that I’m pretty sure was designed for women.
When I raised the issue of his highly gendered cigarette, Matthew began to blaspheme as only a man who has paid 300 bucks for a packet of ladies cigarettes can blaspheme. It was a magisterial performance. During this tirade, it emerged that although he was spending a fortune every week on cigarettes, he wasn’t smoking any less. He was just spending a lot more on cigarettes that he heartily disliked.
The treasury has thus far lost about R1.5-billion in revenue, and the organised crime syndicates have benefited accordingly. That’s an awful lot of brightly coloured sports cars and lingerie for mistresses. The thing is that bans of this nature have already tried out and we should have learned that they don’t work. From 1920 to 1933 the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcohol was outlawed in the United States.
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