"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
Tobacco and the Limits to Utilitarianism
In a free society, tobacco companies and their customers would not have their relationship invaded by the state. By Anthony Gregory.
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And, the human beings responsible would be held accountable for adding man-made toxic chemicals, which cause harm, to their tobacco. They could not hide behind "corporation" veils.
Maybe cigarettes as they are currently manufactured are dangerous, but maybe smoking pure tobacco is mostly harmless.
http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_additives_in_cigarettes
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In a free society, certainly in a sane one, ALL drugs would be treated the same as any other commodity. Unlike most illegal drugs, tobacco really is addictive and harmful, but for decades the tobacco industry has helped to underwrite a massive campaign of false advertising against other drugs (check out the anti-meth posters at your local post office or police department), and now THEY'RE whining about THEIR freedom? They don't want THEIR relationships with THEIR customers invaded by the state? How perfect. Welcome to my world, Mr. Marlboro Man, the world YOU helped create.
In WW2 a single pack of cigarettes was used for the purposes of barter. It changed hands many times with it's final purchase being a home. This seems to indicate the extremely addictive nature of tobacco as it relates to human nature.
Thanks, Co Op.
I remember once I bartered 2 pk K ration smokes in a Korean village for a much needed Ernie Pyle hat that the supply chiefs simply couldn't get, or so they said. I was freezing my ears off (not to mention my butt) in that miserable place**, and the mama-sans saved my bacon.
Best .40 I ever spent (I think a carton of smokes at the PX was around a buck -- that would be a silver buck, of course -- at the time, but I gave all my ration stamps away).
Sam
** IT was not a miserable place, I should correct that. US infiltration was miserable in what was a gentle, friendly village of farm folks trying to stay out of the line of fire. I had no business being there intruding upon their way of life; and, although a draftee, I would have found a way NOT to be there had I known what I know today.
Sam