I guess I’ll just keep smoking in that case.
Well, look at the bright side.
Since the initial figures were "Alice-in-Wonderland" fantasy to begin with, nothing would surprise me. Example:
Furby Snerdley, of Anytown, Hawaii, was killed today in a frightening automobile accident, when he hit a concrete abutment while traveling in excess of 130 miles per hour --- on the wrong side of the road. His body was burned beyond recognition in the ensuing fire, and he was decapitated when ejected from the vehicle through the windshield. Three empty bottles of Jack Daniels were found on the front seat. Mr Snerdley, a long-time AIDS activist and well known transvestite, was later found to have a blood alcohol level of 45%. The ashtray in the vehicle was found to contain numerous cigarette butts.
Unfortunately, another tobacco smoke-related death has been tallied.
< /loser twit mode>
Holy Moly, just in time to fund the Schip program.
Its for the kidz, ya know.
Zero doesn’t apply.
Now to let you in on a little secret - eliminating smoking would screw up pensions, Social Security and Medicare. You can probably understand the first two - less smoking = longer life = more money coming out of retirement accounts. The last is surprising, but I'll explain. Everyone dies (big surprise). When anyone is dying, our modern medical system will generally do a lot of very expensive things to save them. Now whether they die at 65 because of smoking related diseases, or give up that vice and die at 75 of heart disease that final losing battle will cost about the same amount. But the non-smokers have extra years of general treatment which add costs. So if you want to save SS and Medicare, smoke up.
I encourage every smoker to start making their own.
I started 4 years ago.
It takes less than 10 minutes to make a pack and costs about 70 cents.
Plus you get the satisfaction of not paying the sin tax.
Google RYO or roll your own, or FReep mail and I’ll tell you where I get my supplies.