Last week, British American Tobacco launched a huge campaign to raise awareness about the issues they’re concerned about regarding a government policy for plain green packets for cigarettes and other types of tobacco products. The issues included things like infringement of trademarks and private property rights, loss of intellectual property, and an increased black market for cigarettes.

Even though the policy faces potential legal challenges, the Federal Health Minister is sticking by her policy, saying that she’s positive that the legality of it will be upheld by the courts if a ruling is required. However, even some of the government’s top allies think the tobacco companies will be successful when they challenge the government in court.

Over the weekend, Simon Chapman of the University of Sydney made a new proposal for providing citizens with a license to smoke that would be based on a certain number of allocated cigarettes per day. The fee for the license would be paid to the government, and the cost would depend on the number of cigarettes the smoker would commit to smoking ahead of time.

Many believe that this proposal would defeat the purpose of undercut the time and money the government has already invested in campaigns to raise awareness about the bad effects cigarette smoke has on an individual’s health.