Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Why is it legal to sell cigarettes?


The Surgeon General says smoking kills 480,000 Americans each year.

That’s just about one death every minute, every day, all year long.

The report also brings it home to you and me:

The social and economic costs of smoking impacts each one of us—smokers and non-smokers—it’s about $300 billion a year—that’s an average of almost $1,000 a year for every man, woman and child—in smoking-related health care costs and, importantly, lost productivity on the job. Smokers are out sick more often, y’know?....

Look, with numbers like these, it’s obvious that smoking may be a personal choice but it isn’t a personal issue, it’s not a private issue, it’s a public issue, it’s an issue for all of us.

And let’s get real: there is no responsible way to smoke, unless you live alone and you never leave your own home and you’ve got wads of cash stashed away to pay full price for all your future medical care.

Why is it legal to sell cigarettes?

Think of the good things that would happen if we put a $50 tax on every pack of cigarettes….





Some other thoughts:

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