The Elephant in the Room

You know, the one we all refuse to see.

September 8th, 2006

I am a smoker.

Currently, I don't smoke because I just quit again. Mark Twain reportedly said "It's easy to quit smoking, I've done it a thousand times". Well I've done it twice, back on February 1st, 1989 I put them down and walked away from the the addiction for over 10 years. It's funny, I can tell you exactly when I quit smoking both times, but I can't tell you exactly when I started again.

August 26th I quit again when God reached out and put his finger on my chest and pressed down. Thankfully he wasn't pressing as hard as he could. Two surgeries, four stints and a bazillion bucks later it looks like I might be able to come back to work soon. Now that I've become a quitter again perhaps I can point out some issues that non-smokers have been ignoring for years. (While you are smoking you are not allowed to speak out on these matters, since you are obviously related to the devil.)

Communities all over the country that have made it illegal to smoke in public. Some just stop smoking in public buildings, some have made it illegal outside, I've heard some communities have made it illegal to smoke on your own property or in your car within certain government imposed limits. One by one small towns and large cities follow suit and more and more the people who are still smoking get moved into second hand citizen status.

States have banded together to sue the tobacco companies and received huge settlements based on the cost of health care caused by tobacco use. Now, they see the tobacco companies have not folded under the weight and several have found ways to file new suits against them. The Federal government decided they wanted a piece of the pie and tried to collect another $280 Billion from "Big Tobacco".

So you have to ask yourself, why is tobacco use still legal in the U.S.?

I mean, if Big Tobacco is evil, as the non-smoking advocates would have you believe, and if the cost of tobacco related health care is bankrupting State and Federal government agencies, why have these agencies not outlawed the sale of tobacco products?

Why do they sue these companies and legislate away the rights of the smokers while they continue to support the wide spread sale of these products? You can buy cigarettes in every community where you can not smoke them.

Of course we know the answer. Greed. The states are reaping huge tax benefits from the sale of tobacco, the big court settlements are just bonuses. Government officials in the tobacco producing states have Big Tobacco companies behind them as well as the tobacco farmers. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the drug companies weren't supporting the cause.

The fact is too many people are making too much money for our government officials to stand up in their face. Now they will happily get high minded when the second hand smoke advocates come around. After all, this way they can get the votes, and the money from both sides.

~Steve Weigle