Health Minister Mike de Jong’s recent suggestion to charge smokers a higher premium on their Medical Service Plan to reflect the burden they are to the health system comes with mixed feelings.

To the non-smoker, the idea of paying out of pocket to cover health costs for those who choose to light up is almost as annoying as inhaling second hand smoke. However, once our initial emotions subside, a clearer mind admits that smokers are not the only ones voluntarily engaging in risky behaviour.

Perhaps, Mr. De Jong, athletes participating in extreme sports should have to pay higher premiums as well. And certainly mill workers or miners, who are more likely to be injured on the job than secretaries or elementary school teachers, should be added to the list.

But we needn’t argue back and forth too much because De Jong’s proposal is flawed. The fact is, it would be near impossible to identify all the smokers in the first place.

In order to find the smokers, the health minister might decide to treat all British Columbians as guilty until proven innocent. With this government mindset, the entire population would have to visit a clinic for a mandatory quarterly urine screening to prove they are tobacco free and bypass the additional MSP surcharge.

Alternatively, the government could choose to identify customers when they purchase cigarettes. Of course it would be very easy for people to slip through the cracks and this practice could easily spawn a new black market for tobacco, with a few people taking a hit with the surcharge while making a profit selling cigarettes on the side.

A Black Press article quoted De Jong as saying that the MSP surcharge on smokers would be a new incentive to persuade them to quit on top of existing taxes on cigarettes and and a growing list of other restrictions on where tobacco addicts can light up.

“I think smokers would be upset to be singled out,” De Jong said. “But we want them to be upset because they are engaged in behaviour that is costing the rest of society billions of dollars.”

Unfortunately, singling them out is not as easy as it sounds. The process would be costly and inefficient and the non-smoking public would end up being punished anyway.