Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. Smoking is bad. That is undebatable. What is debatable, however, is how we should address smoking as an issue of public health, an area where good intentions could often lead to unintended bad consequences. Take the recent tobacco tax debate , for example. Some have called for the levy to be doubled to HK$76 (US$9.70) for a pack of cigarettes. They argue that making cigarettes less affordable would give smokers a stronger reason to quit. This would work, in theory, so long as one ignores the reality of the black market. Over the past three years, illicit cigarettes seized by the city’s enforcement agency has almost quadrupled – from 205 million sticks in 2020 to 751 million sticks in 2022. Because of its long coastline, proximity to mainland China and many other markets with cheaper cigarettes, Hong Kong is prone to smuggling. Demand for illegal alternatives has increased as Hong Kong’s economy continues to struggle amid a revival of border traffic with the mainland, the main source of tobacco smuggling before Covid-19. How many more public resources do we need to allocate to enforcement forces to contain the problem, when we have more urgent social issues to deal with? This is simply not the time for a tobacco tax increase, let alone a massive one. The elephant in the room is that a big tax increase will either push smokers towards the black market, or punish hard-core smokers, who are often elderly and poor, amid rising costs of living. Clearly, something is wrong with our tobacco control advocacy. That said, it is encouraging that discussions surrounding tobacco control have been growing in recent months. Let us approach the issue from a more rational and pragmatic perspective ahead of a public consultation on how we can achieve a smoke-free Hong Kong. Joe Lo, convenor, Long-term Tobacco Policy Concern Group Preserve Hong Kong’s wartime heritage Around the south side of Hong Kong Island, several former defence constructions can be seen, and unfortunately, they are all in bad shape. Since they are part of Hong Kong’s heritage – and are also of some touristic value – why do we let them fall into dereliction? On the seafront promenade, between Repulse Bay and Deep Water Bay, there is a pillbox still standing, badly in need of repair. Around Cheshire Home, massive former military forts are visible and some have been converted into storage areas. Why not rehabilitate these defensive blockhouses, place some information panels explaining their historical background, or even put in certain pillboxes mock-ups of the canons that used to be there during World War II? Francois Moirez, Stanley