As Congress considers a 61-cent hike in the federal tobacco tax, a USA Today analysis has found strong and direct correlation between higher cigarette taxes and people quitting smoking.
In New Jersey, for instance, smoking dropped by 35 percent after the state raised its tobacco tax by 80 cents to $2.40.
In Connecticut, cigarette consumption fell 37 percent after the tax was raised by $1 a pack.
Raising the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents to $1 a pack could deliver the biggest one-time drop in national smoking rates ever, according to health experts.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius earlier this year said she might reintroduce a state tobacco tax hike in the next legislative session.The public health benefits are hard to ignore.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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59 Comments
I am all for it.
I am just concerned about what we plan to do when there are no more taxes to be collected from tobacco?
I wonder how many people actually STAYED not smoking.
Amazing that the answer to every government problem is … GOODY, LET’S RAISE TAXES!
gee jwink/neocon, what would you do?
Let me guess…CUT THE TAXES FOR THE RICH?
This is one “poor man’s tax” that ought to be raised. In fact I would tax them at $5 a pack. This habit should be taxed “to death”.
LEGALIZE HEMP – by Jim Hightower
If you have any doubt that America’s $45 billion-a-year drug war is a waste of money, an affront to our nation’s liberties, and an exercise in zealous, bureaucratic goofiness – go talk to farmers in North Dakota.
To help boost the state’s distressed farm economy, North Dakota’s agricultural and political leaders have been pushing the idea of raising an ecologically-sound, easily-grown cash crop: industrial hemp. This natural product is already popular in the US, where it’s a key ingredient in such common items as clothing, paper, foods, building materials, shampoos, car bodies. even beer.
You can buy these hemp products, but – here comes the goofiness – our farmers are not allowed to grow the hemp! Instead, it comes from Canada, China, and elsewhere.
Why? Because the Drug Enforcement Agency says that this plant, a distant cousin of marijuana plant, contains a tiny trace of tetrahydrocannabinol – the psychoactive substance that gives marijuana its oomph. Never mind that you couldn’t get high if you smoked a bale of hemp, the drug nannies have outlawed its production
North Dakota – not a bastion of pot-smoking hippies – has passed legislation to authorize plantings of industrial hemp, and the first farmer seeking DEA permission to proceed is a high school principal and Republican state legislator. “Do I look shady?” He asks. “This is not any subversive thing. this is just practical agriculture.”
Well, says the DEA, maybe you’re not shady, but shady outsiders could sneak into your field of harmless hemp and spike it with some marijuana plants. So these goofballs have refused to authorize the planting of a crop that could save some family farmers while harming no one.
Rep. Ron Paul has introduced a bill in Congress to back off the DEA head cases and allow American farmers to grow hemp. For more information, call Paul’s office: 202-225-2831.
Many ideologues on this blog love to use taxes to shape society. You punish the behavior you don’t want, smoking, by raising taxes. One can conclude that making money is something that they wish to discourage.
What about raising taxes on Alcohol to control consumption. Alcohol kill tens of thousands a year in alcoholics and alcohol related deaths. It does as much, if not more, damage to people and families in this country.
Hey, I know.. let’s really tax those abortions.
Does this tobacco tax also apply to those fat cigars the politicians smoke? Why not tax the gas their limosines use?
The fastest way to collect alot of money would be to tax every politician each time they are caught with a prostitute or their mistress. Now that would bring in a boatload of money each and every day.
Hey! I know! Let’s legalize marijuana, and tax it to the tune of $50 an ounce! Crack at ??? I guess I don;t even know how much marijuana and crack cost on the stgreet, but we should tax the hell out them. Maybe it would stop usage, and raise money!
They claim they raise tobacco taxes to compensate for state costs of caring for the Illnesses caused by tobacco…. Hey, let’s tax SUGAR, to compensate for state costs of caring for diabetes, and hamburgers for the costs of caring for obesity, and oh, hey, BOOZE for all the DRUNK DRIVING deaths, and the alcohol-related illnesses…. liver disease, kidney disease, digestive diseases, domestic violence damages, all kinds of stuff that happens from Alcohol abuse…. that NEVER happens because of tobacco!!!
But, nooooooo…. Smokers are the new “hate group” that the entire nation has gotten the green light to discriminate against….
Just try outlawing DRINKING in a bowling alley…. or in restaurants… or on air planes…. See what happens then!!
And if tobacco is so damned bad for people…. WHY does the government subsidize tobacco growers??? Anybody ever wonder that one??? Sure, charge extra taxes on the consumer, and turn around and subsidize the growers!!! Makes good governmental sense!!! Geez!!!
Taxation to control behavior is nothing morethan control. Bad idea. period
LJ, using taxation to control behavior is a time-honored tradition. Examples from the Internal Revenue Code: the home mortgage interest deduction (encourage home ownership); the accelerated depreciation on business equipment (encourage faster capital investment); the charitable contribution deduction (encourage giving to “approved”, i.e. in general 501(c)(3), organizations) not only for income taxes but also estate taxes. There are more, of course, but the above three make the point, I think.
If it passes, then all the NativeAmerican Smoke shops will enlarge to the size of Walmart to sell their tax free cigs.
Vaughn Tolle-
i recognize that it is a time honored profession. I just do not like it.
LJ, neither do I, although use of these behavior affecting provisions puts bread on my plate.
In Scholfield’s view, the world will not be safe for democracy until all tobacco products, including the seeds and the shovels for planting them, have been banished to a place beneath the sea. It’s all part of the tyrant’s version of freedom, replete with a revolving portfolio of enforced, and highly taxed, behaviors. It should be noted that addendums may be made as necessary. Once the war on tobacco has been won, other items will be moved up the list, and banners everywhere, whatever the petty agenda, will be emboldened.
Here’s how it works at the Eagle editorial office, where Scholfield and Brownlee caucus regularly:
It’s shortly after eight a.m., and Scholfield sits at his 1961 manual Olympia typewriter, manufactured somewhere in West Germany. Brownlee walks in and sits down. He strokes his goatee.
“We need another blog topic for tomorrow.”
Scholfield pulls his green eye shade a notch lower and hits the carriage return. “Ban tobacco products,” he says.
“I posted that yesterday,” Brownlee says.
“Tax ‘em,” Scholfield says.
Brownlee walks back to his office. He needs a new ribbon for his Royal.
Later that night, Scholfield sees Taliaferro dining luxuriously in the far, dark corner of some restaurant. Taliaferro just finished his Rice Salad with Pickled Bell Peppers, his Salt Cod Au Gratin, his seven or eight (he lost count) sauteed soft-shelled crabs, and his generous serving of Roman Spring Lamb. He’s working his way through the cheesecake, to be followed by a spicy cigar. “How beautiful life is,” he says to himself, “in the land of the free.”
“You’re paranoid, TRT,” Scholfield says. “It’s not about freedom at all. It’s public health. Your days of smoking are numbered. You won’t be able to light up at home for less than fifteen dollars.”
“Don’t I know it,” Taliaferro says.
I like the Alice B. Toklas ideal, not only you have getting smokers to stop buying tobacco products but you have an agriculture industry to replace.The biggest problem to overcome on industrial hemp is getting passed the Dow Chemicals Corporation and the Rockefellers.
I’m all for the tax. Raise it to 10 bucks a pack in Kansas.
And I smoke.
Of course, I also buy my smokes in Missouri for a 80 cents less a pack. Then while I’m there I gas up my car for ten cents a gallonless (on average 7 cents), and heck I can go hit the Missouri Casino’s with the money I saved!!!!
God bless Missouri being next to Kansas.
What happened to the FAT TAX?You know, the tax at McDonalds and all the other FAT FOOD PLACES???
What about a tax on all foods with HIGH CHOLESTEROL??????
The WINE TAX IS NOT NEARLY HIGH ENOUGH. Go for broke – bring it up a dollar a bottle.
Don’t forget BEER and hard liquor. Those evil sinful things are BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH TOO. Bump it up a dollar!
Chewing gum is bad for your teeth, and people pollute by spitting it out on the ground. A day like today, and it really sucks to step in it. Bump the TAX UP A DOLLAR A STICK!
Where does it end?
Well, the government taxes us for drinking, and smoking. Why not tell us what to eat or not eat too?
Good idea Skinny.
Sin tax is a good thing. It’s totally voluntary. People HAVE to have food, gasoline, clothing, etc, but NO ONE needs to smoke, drink alcohol, gamble, etc. Let ‘em pay the piper if they want to dance. It’s onl;y fair..why should the rest of us have to foot the entire bill for the negative consequences of destructive behaviors?
Except who decides what “Sin” is?
Not everyone needs FAT foods Mary.
Whoppers and 1/4 Pounders are killing many of us!
2/3 of Americans die from Heart Disease, Strokes, and Cancer.
Bad diets and lack of exercise are big contributers to this problem.
Isn’t it sinful when a 300 lb person chows down on fast food?
Reminds me, time to take a lunch break!
Good point Tom. I thought people didn’t want Government making moral decisions for us!
What’s good, what’s bad? Who’s to decide?
Big Socialist Brother?
(You know, if you get everything for free from your Socialist Government, you give up complete freedom to choose the free stuff that you get. You get whatever Big Brother decides to give you – and that’s it! No choices! Should make Marxists happy too!)
It will make the moralist Fundies happy too
..why should the rest of us have to foot the entire bill for the negative consequences of destructive behaviors?
Posted by: Mary Caruso | Au
Gee Mary, that’s exactly how I feel about paying for your healthcare, and about a dozen other socialist programs.
I think it makes sense to discourage people from smoking and drinking excessively. We don’t sell cigarettes to minors or allow people to drive drunk without major consequences if they get caught. When people make bad choices, it’s not just their lives that affected. I think the govenment SHOULD put more pressure on fast food chains to offer healthier foods to consumers. Taxpayers pay through the nose to take care of those who refuse to take care of themselves…why shouldn’t those who are bent on self destruction be held more accountable for their choices? And why should the rest of us have to foot the bill for their “freedom” to ruin their health? That’s not fair.
You don’t pay for MY health care, Hotdog…not by a long shot.And as far as “socialist” programs, you’re comparing apples to oranges.
you’re comparing apples to oranges.
Posted by: Mary Caruso
No, you just want it both ways. You want to judge everyone: from rich to sinner.
As a socialist, you just want to take everyone’s money and give to others for whatever REASON you JUDGE to be appropriate.
Who made you judge?
God.
Who made you judge?
Posted by: Hotdog1 | August 15, 2007 at 12:48 PM
God.
Posted by: Mary Caruso | August 15, 2007 at 01:00 PM
Coool. Can I talk to him to? I wanna be a judge!
littlejohn…thou are now a judge…
use ur powers wisely grasshopper
oh Thank you!For my first ruling, I ……
how can you say public health.. it’s not a public health issue, it is a personal choice issue.. There has never been a person die from second hand smoke. Hell when your done with this lets ban cell phones remember it causes brain tumors.
Stephan: Legalize medical marijuana
By Sarah Kessinger
Harris News Service
TOPEKA – Seven years enduring chemotherapy turned former Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan into an advocate for legalized medical marijuana.
Stephan said Tuesday that he’s long called for doctors to have the right to prescribe marijuana for patients with cancer or other diseases to alleviate pain and nausea from chemotherapy.
“In the early 80s, I was involved in the effort and here I am again.”
The state’s longest-running chief attorney, Stephan retired in 1995 but has remained active in public affairs, including his plans to join a Friday press conference urging the Legislature to approve the use of marijuana in certain medical cases.
He specified that it should be prescribed only if other drugs have failed.
Twelve states currently have some form of law allowing use of medical marijuana. California was the first to approve and New Mexico was the latest, where legislators passed a new law this spring.
Opponents of such measures often say they send the wrong message to young people because it involves an otherwise illegal drug.
“That is just an appalling, illogical argument,” said Dan Bernath, assistant communications director at the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. “It’s important for us as adults to teach children that medicine is for sick people and that medical marijuana is no different.”
Stephan, who is now in private practice, said that at Friday’s 11 a.m. press conference he’d have more specifics on the issue.
The Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition, a group with chapters in northeast Kansas and Wichita, is holding the event.
“I know what it’s like when you can’t find anything to alleviate nausea that’s endured for that period of time,” Stephan said of his battle with cancer. “I’ve talked to thousands of patients through the years about it. If there’s a way to take away from that suffering, we ought to use it.”
Current Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison deferred to lawmakers when asked his opinion on the issue Tuesday.
“This is a public policy issue determined by the Legislature,” said Morrison spokeswoman Frances Gorman.
Senate Public Health Chairman Jim Barnett, R-Emporia, said he wasn’t familiar with the coalition’s campaign.
Barnett, a physician, said two prescription drugs, known as cannabinoid medicines, that are marijuana-based and federally approved – Marinol and Cesamet – are now available in pill form to cancer patients facing nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy.
While Bernath said that’s a good thing, he said some patients wait 45 minutes for the synthesized drugs to take effect. Smoking marijuana can offer almost instant relief from nausea, he said, making it preferable for some patients who can’t keep from vomiting pills.
Laura Green, director of the Kansas coalition, said the last time the Kansas Legislature took up a bill on the issue was in 1995. It failed in conference committee.
Green hopes people are more receptive today to the concept of using marijuana, or the cannabis plant, to ease pain in the terminally ill.
“I think that people are not as hysterical about the word today,” she said. “That’s because about 13,000 Kansans were diagnosed with cancer in 2004 alone. People realize that their loved ones, family members and friends shouldn’t suffer needlessly.”
Current law in Kansas prescribes a year in jail and a fine of $2,500 for the misdemeanor of marijuana possession. The second conviction is a felony punishable by up to 42 months in jail and a $100,000 fine.
Cultivation of more than four marijuana plants, including for medical purposes, is a felony worth 11 to 17 years in prison.
Green, whose organization is relatively new, hopes with Stephan’s support that more Kansans will speak out in favor of a law change. Some of the 400 members in the group aren’t willing to publicize their names for fear of retribution.
“Honestly,” she said, “we’re just starting to get the debate going.”
COuld be an excellent idea?!
Issues of propriety aside, it would nice if cigarette taxes made people stop smoking. Statistical correlation aside, though, I suspect most of those who quit in response to the price hike were the “casual” smokers–people who weren’t really hooked on the drug in the first place.
I’m not unsympathetic to “right to buy” arguments–I could see the government applying the taxing power just as easily to, say, penicillin. But, to tell the truth, the government is running such huge deficits now–thanks to Bush & Co–that it’s hard to ignore ANY source of revenue, particularly one that may benefit human health as well.
But, as Steven Tyler once e wisely noted, “Telling an addict to ‘just say no’ is like telling a manic-depressive to ‘just cheer up.’
Legalise hemp, and tax it too!
P.S. Hey, God, can you teach ME that “water-parting” trick? TIA.
Rage,hemp is already taxed even though it’s not legal. go figure.
When do we get the little boxes installed in our houses that tell us when to exercise too?
I would like to know where every penny went to that the state of Kansas got from the Tobacco lawsuit.
God told me that you smokers all need to quit. So go forth and sin no more…
Heh, Mary, you DO realize some people will think you wrote that with a a straight face? :)
From 1978 to 1995, about 4500 people were treated in emergency rooms for injuries received from playing with lawn darts (most of these injuries were not serious). What was the solution to this issue? Permit multimillion dollar lawsuits against the manufacturers and remove the product from the market place. Even today, many years after lawn darts have been removed from store shelves, law firms seek out individuals who have been injured by old toys in order to file lawsuits.
From 1997 to 2001, the Center for Disease Control estimates there were 2,190,000 (yes, two million plus) deaths in the U.S directly attributed to tobacco. That is the equivalent of 3 fully loaded 747 airliners crashing per day, or a 9-11 scale terrorist attack occurring every four days. The response to this issue: discuss ways in which lawsuits can be limited and to permit the continued sale of the product.
What is the answer to tobacco? Should lawsuits be allowed? I have no idea. What I do know is that these two examples make clear a few interesting facts. First, anyone who believes in intelligent design must be nuts. No supernatural agent could create an organism this stupid, even on purpose. Second, we don’t have the good sense to know what to be afraid of. We gleefully spend trillions of dollars working to defend ourselves against something that might happen (such as a terrorist attack), all the while inflicting substantially more damage on ourselves, willingly and with pleasure, and paying corporations for the opportunity to do so.
The evolution of tobacco maybe one of nature’s more effective attempts at ridding itself of one of its most egregious errors.
“Many ideologues on this blog love to use taxes to shape society. You punish the behavior you don’t want, smoking, by raising taxes. One can conclude that making money is something that they wish to discourage.”
What?? It is a FACT that smokers cost on society is HUGE and can be measured in BILLIONS of dollars a year in health cost and lost productivity. They don’t come anywhere near to paying what their filthy addiction cost.
“They claim they raise tobacco taxes to compensate for state costs of caring for the Illnesses caused by tobacco…. Hey, let’s tax SUGAR, to compensate for state costs of caring for diabetes, and hamburgers for the costs of caring for obesity, and oh, hey, BOOZE for all the DRUNK DRIVING deaths, and the alcohol-related illnesses…. liver disease, kidney disease, digestive diseases, domestic ”
Those all sound to me like great ideas! We could finance a new national health program with that.
You know, the numbers there are skewed. Pretty much anyone that smoked or was ever exposed to smoke (practically anyone) get included in those death numbers. They’re full of it.
A really good analysis on the numbers quoted in an anti-smoking ad…http://www.slate.com/?id=110152
We learn from the CDC report that “one in three” means the following:
“Of young American adults who smoke, we project that 55 percent will become lifetime smokers, and there is a 50 percent chance that they will suffer a smoking-attributable death. The other 45 percent, who will quit sometime in their adult life, have a 10 percent chance of suffering a smoking-attributable death.”
So, 50 percent of 55 percent plus 10 percent of 45 percent comes out to 32 percent, or—more or less—one in three.
So, what’s a “smoking-attributable death”? It’s a death from a smoking-related illness that wouldn’t have occurred had the patient not smoked. How do we know what would have happened? We can only guess—but the majesty of statistics is that it can turn a sufficiently large aggregate of guesses into a number we can hope to trust. The estimates here are taken from Mortality From Smoking in Developed Countries, 1950-2000 (R. Peto, et al.), and they work like this: Suppose that the data from a large-scale study tell us that, in any given year, male lifelong smokers are about two and a half times as likely as male non-smokers to die of heart disease. Suppose that, this year, 100,000 male lifelong smokers die of heart disease. We then guess that if all these men were non-smokers, only 40,000 would have died of heart disease this year. There you are—60,000 smoking-attributable deaths. (The Peto study, in order to err on the low side, cuts these numbers in half right from the start.)
And now we have our answer:
“Of young American adults who smoke, one in three will die of smoking-attributable diseases, assuming current patterns of smoking and smoking-related death do not change.”
VTYou made the comment, on another thread, that tobacco was “inelastic” as to price or taxation.I would agree, to a point.However, the opening to this thread makes the case that:
TAXATION EFFECTS BEHAVIOR — even in tobacco!
Therefore, my most repeated line:
If you want MORE of something, SUBSIDIZE IT, if you want LESS of something TAX IT!
If you want LESS employment, TAX employment!If you want LESS profit, TAX profit.If you want LESS income, TAX income!(Or RAISE the existing taxes on same.)
—————————-
Just saw that Bob Stephan wants the KS Legislature to pass a “Medical Marijuana” bill.
Let me shock all of you:
I think Stephan is RIGHT on this one!————-First, an observation, liberals seem bent on making tobacco illegal and making marijuana legal. It is rather goofy, but that is what we witness, over the last few years.
If we move towards “socialized medicine” — we will have more and more “sin taxes” on alcohol and tobacco. We might even see taxes on “trans-fat” and other “unhealthy” food.
Those who oppose the “nanny state” should understand that national healthcare plans will bring about a society that demands people quit risky behavior or get taxed for their risky behavior.———
Now, back to the “Medical Marijuana” issue.
“Hemp” is NOT a “distant cousin” of marijuana. They are the SAME thing. They can be cross-bred.
Hemp was bred for fiber.
Marijuana was bred for THC.
However, they are the SAME, in most respects.
Kansas has wild HEMP/Marijuana everywhere. Especially around railroad tracks or the former location of RR tracks and bridges over creeks and streams.
Most WW2 Hemp was grown in Kentucky and traveled, by rail, the the Pacific Coast, through Kansas.
I know several people up close to the “Pony Express Highway” close to Nebraska, that have huge crops of wild “Hemp” to deal with every year. The boxcars full of Hemp that traveled through the state left lots of seeds.
Thats another issue: most bird food, wild and domestic, contains Hemp seeds.
I once teased the Lions Club leaders about their “anti marijuana” campaign.
I asked, in a meeting, “wouldnt it be great if every lawn and garden shop in the country, every Walmart, every Loews had pictures of Hemp, for identification purposes? And also, what if they all told you which herbicides would kill the marijuana?— After all, it has worked so well in our efforts to get rid of crabgrass and dandelions!
My point: We will NEVER be rid of wild marijuana!
Yes, I know it can make you lazy and that people should not drive when they are stoned.
I am not suggesting legalization, I don’t think the country is ready for that.
(Full and fair disclosure, I smoked pot at Robinson Jr. High, at East High and at WSU. I run from the stuff, now, since I can’t afford any legal problems.)
My point is only that this is a “problem” that government can’t solve. Unfortunately, we also can’t walk away from it. Marijuana can be very destructive. However, I know many fully funtional, productive people who use it rather often.———
Medical Marijuana?
Look up the drug: Thalimid
It is the old “Thalidamide” or the drug that USED to be prescribed for morning sickness in pregnant women — at least in the U.K. (The FDA, thankfully, banned the stuff, back then, before it was ever released in the U.S.)
Thalidomide caused “flipper babies” — very bad birth defects, which hit England very hard.
Anyway, Today’s Thalimid is the same thing. It costs about $7000.00 a month, and you have to swear, through a recorded phone call, that you won’t let anyone TOUCH the stuff, as a pregnant women who touches a pill will absorb enough, through the skin, to damage her unborn child!
Anyway, just as Thalidomide was useful, but dangerous, in increasing the appetite and reducing morning sickness, in pregnant women, — it also helps cancer and chemo patients with their appetite and reduces vomiting, from what I have been told by clients who take the stuff.
This is a crazy would we live in! We won’t allow “medical marijuana” — which might also reduce PAIN as well as increase appetite — but we allow this POISIN Thalimid, instead? For the SAME thing?
Anyway, Bob Stephan is right on this one!
Just another statistic.100% of us will die. Of something.
This just proves how the anti-choice crowd is forcing smokers to take unnecessary risks while seeking to exercise their right to choose (to smoke or not). Soon we will be forced to smoke in back alleys while trying to figure out why we’re all carrying hangers.
NYPOST: BLACK-MARKET-BUTT BLUES
August 15, 2007 — The arrest of three Chinese nationals on charges of running a Queens-based multimillion-dollar cigarette-smuggling ring gives a whole new reason to worry about black-market butts.According to Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice, who oversaw the investigation, the contraband smokes had illegally high levels of nicotine and tar. Thus tens of thousands of New Yorkers have been smoking unusually harmful cigarettes.
An estimated 35 percent to 50 percent of the cigarettes New Yorkers smoke are counterfeit. A recent study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health associates taxes with this shift in supply, observing: “Purchasing from [buttleggers] was the principal behavioral response to the tax increase by smokers.” That is, fewer people gave up the habit than resorted to buying contraband.
The Queens bust indicates just how entrenched the cigarette-smuggling trade has become. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm agents retrieved more than 57,960 cartons of illegal smokes from an unmarked Corona warehouse (a street value topping $3.4 million), plus $350,000 in cash.
“The number of contraband cigarettes, whether untaxed [out-of-state] or counterfeit, has increased,” said New York-based ATF Special Agent Joseph Green. “The primary problems with counterfeit cigarettes are that they’re lacking quality control. We have no idea what’s even being put into these cigarettes.”
Scaling back New York’s cigarette tax to a reasonable level would be the quickest solution to this public-health threat; it would also deliver an always-welcome blow to Hezbollah, North Korea, China and Vietnam, all of whom allegedly are in on the take.
Cutting the tax just makes sense.
There is an Indian reservation called the “No Blanket Smoke Shop” close to Niagra that sells cigs very very cheap.
They do a bang-up business.
I am sure the Indians love high taxes on smokes!
“”The number of contraband cigarettes, whether untaxed [out-of-state] or counterfeit, has increased,” said New York-based ATF Special Agent Joseph Green. “The primary problems with counterfeit cigarettes are that they’re lacking quality control. We have no idea what’s even being put into these cigarettes.”"
Well gosh- I guess that means the big tobacco corporations give people “quality” cigarettes so they can die of “quality” cancers!
“”Of young American adults who smoke, we project that 55 percent will become lifetime smokers, and there is a 50 percent chance that they will suffer a smoking-attributable death. The other 45 percent, who will quit sometime in their adult life, have a 10 percent chance of suffering a smoking-attributable death.”
So, 50 percent of 55 percent plus 10 percent of 45 percent comes out to 32 percent, or—more or less—one in three.”
I have an idea which could solve the whole problem. If you see a smoker, you should take a 6 shot gun and put 2 bullets into the gun. Spin the barrel and ask the smoker to put the gun to his/her head and pull the trigger. I mean this is the same thing that stupid ass smokers do and it would save us and them lots of money and suffering in the end!
“First, an observation, liberals seem bent on making tobacco illegal and making marijuana legal. It is rather goofy, but that is what we witness, over the last few years.”
I want to discourage either but marijuana smokers tend to be occassional users while cigarette smokers are habitual users. A few joints a week is not going to do the harm 20 cigs a day will do over time. That is why I say TAX the PISS out of cigs and if pot is made legal TAX the PISS outta that too.
“(Full and fair disclosure, I smoked pot at Robinson Jr. High, at East High and at WSU. I run from the stuff, now, since I can’t afford any legal problems.)”
Alot of us did stupid shit at East High. I smoked cigs, pot, took LSD, drank Boone’s Farm wine by the bottle, drove too fast and ran my motorcycle into a fire engine (painful- yes!) and tattooed the name of a girl I liked on my arm (yep it is still there). But after you get about 18 or so, normal people grow up and quit all that shit- except for smoking because they are addicted and that habit is a bitch to quit! It took me years to get off cigarettes but as I watched my father be eaten alive slowly by the cancer, I decided that I would own my life and not Phillip Morris. And I have not touched that shit since.
Kev..you’re proof that you don’t have to be smart to survive. Glad you lived to be an adult, many don’t make it.