“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of. ”
I should write a catchy article on smoking, but I love the simplicity of this photo too much to distract from it.
What the heck, I might as well write something productive.
"All Smoked Out in Israel," can be my catchy title.
Smokers in Israel are no laughing matter. They are just about all smoked out… with taxes.
While the United States has problems with big tobacco, foreign countries have even a bigger issue with the situation.
In Israel, the Health Ministry decided to up the taxes on a pack of smokes by 20% in 2017. The increase was aimed at deterring people from lighting up. The decision to put the tax increase in place was due to a 2016 increase of those who are 18 or older and lighting up at an increased rate of 19.7%, according to an article in the HAARETZ.
In all, it looks as if 22.5% of the Israeli population over the age of 18 smoke.
Like institutes of higher learning in America, Israel also nipped smoking in the bud at such locations. A law that went into motion in 2016 banned smoking in all educational institutes in Israel.