UK drops plan for plain cigarette packs

Ridiculous debate, on two accounts:
1) it denies a basic intellectual property attribute such as packaging to a legal product
2) it contradicts the stance on the role and size of the state (particularly at times of austerity)

A pack of 10 cigarettes is some £4.5, so one stick costs 45p.  A Snickers bar is about 40p.  The excise on tobacco is 16.5% of retail price plus £176.22 per 1,000 cigarettes, so some 25p of the price of a stick (VAT is another 7p or so, so the government takes some 72% of what the consumer is paying. 

I would agree with plain packaging, or making tobacco illegal alltogether if the government would guarantee that by eating 10 Snickers bars a day I live longer than by smoking 10 cigarettes.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9e88c622-eac6-11e2-9fcc-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2YqcvhEET