Jenna hits the nail (for those of you over 50, no pun intended) on the head. Nothing the government has done so far is really about getting people to stop smoking. Like everything the nanny state does, it’s about money and power. My favorite example is the emphasis on stopping teenagers from smoking. Now what would be the obvious solution if you wanted to seriously reduce teenager smoking? Treat it like alcohol. Make it illegal for kids under 18 to smoke or to pocess tobacco products. If they are caught smoking haul them down to the police station, call their parents, fine them. Instead, it is illegal for people to sell cigarettes to minors, but a 12 year year old can walk down Fayettville St. smoking a cigarette and be perfectly legal. The point is that if teens completely stopped smoking, fewer packs of cigarettes will be purchased (by someone) both now and into the future as most of those kids don’t become life-long smokers. This means a dried up revenue flow to the state and less money to use for stifling our liberties in other ways.
BTW–just so there is no suspicion that I’ve gone over to the dark side. I am not endorsing the above policy. It is not the legitimate role of government to get anyone to stop smoking. My point is to suggest that both the state and the anti-tobacco nannies are lying about their true agenda. It is not about getting anyone to stop smoking but to maximize both revenues and power. (see Mitch’s post below on Jim Black’s sentence.)
