2,000,000 imates in our jails and prisons
can't be wrong!!
Posted on 02/15/2005 8:24:48 AM PST by SheLion
Do people who enjoy smoking have any rights? Increasingly, the answer is no. It is essential to keep in mind that smoking cigarettes, cigars, or pipes is an entirely personal choice. No one is required to smoke. Millions voluntarily stop smoking every year. People have been smoking, and enjoying tobacco products for a very long time, but now they have been demonized and ostracized.
Using the power of government, to tax, smokers are being ripped off at every level. Recently, New York City sent letters to 2,300 residents giving them thirty days to pay the taxes on the cartons of cigarettes they had purchased over the Internet. It's the law.
A single pack of cigarettes in New York City comes with a state tax of $1.50, a city tax of $1.50, and a federal tax of 39 cents. A pack of Marlboro cigarettes will cost you $7.00. A ten-pack carton will cost you more than $55.00. Purchased at an international airport's duty-free store, the same carton retails for just $16.00.
There are few, if any, people who do not know there is an element of risk involved in the decision to smoke. There is risk involved when any American gets into his car and goes anywhere. Driving kills over 40,000 Americans every year. It is the price we pay for the mobility, and other benefits cars and vehicles provide. There is, in fact, risk in every human activity, including the enjoyment of alcoholic beverages and even the simple act of eating.
The U.S. engaged in a hugely failed experiment, called Prohibition, to stop people from drinking alcoholic beverages at their favorite saloon. It took a Constitutional amendment to end it. For many years now, the same thinking that imposed Prohibition has been at work to achieve the same outcome with smoking.
It is un-American in the most profound sense of that term. In a nation founded on the individual right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, preventing people from the enjoyment of smoking runs contrary to the inherent right to enjoy this lifestyle option if you want.
Consider, however, some events in 2004. The first worldwide antismoking treaty - the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - was ratified, and is now in effect. It is yet another example of the United Nation's intention to control every aspect of the lives of everyone on planet Earth. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is the lead organization in America, and it has promised to "now concentrate on enforcement efforts."
During 2004, six nations imposed a no-smoking ban. Among them were Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden. These nations are notable for their liberal, i.e., socialist political agendas. Here in the U.S., so-called "nonsmoker's rights" became law in Idaho, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. At the local level, thirty-two jurisdictions passed comprehensive workplace smoking laws in 2004, along with "less comprehensive smokefree workplace laws."
There's more. Eleven States, including Virginia, where historically tobacco was the crop that encouraged its establishment and growth as an American colony, substantially increased their cigarette taxes. Consider the example of New York City, and multiply it by other cities and states, cashing in, while at the same time, banning smoking, indoors and out. That is obscene.
Now imagine a similar level of taxation on a candy bar, a cup of coffee, or soft drink. Think it can't happen? Think again.
ASH has big plans for 2005. It plans to "take advantage of a new ruling which now makes it possible for sensitive nonsmokers to sue states which do not provide them with reasonable protection from tobacco smoke pollution."
These suits will eventually cost taxpayers millions, draining vital financial resources from serious needs such as infrastructure improvements. ASH will push for more and more bans, on people who smoke outdoors on beaches, and elsewhere. In California, it is already against the law to light up on the beach.
Let's say you've just bought a condo, or moved to an apartment. ASH intends to encourage and assist lawsuits by apartment dwellers who object to neighbors smoking in their own apartments. In the name of protecting children, ASH will pursue laws that ban parents from smoking around their children, by getting courts to issue orders to ban smoking in custody cases, or by a foster parent, or in a car, while driving children anywhere.
All this is happening in the "land of the free, and the home of the brave," as well as around the world, where the U.N. antismoking treaty bans any advertising for tobacco products, requires health warning labels similar to those on products sold in the U.S., bans any secondhand smoke in workplaces, public transport, and indoor public places.
It empowers a vast law enforcement program against smuggling, and there will be smuggling, leading to cartels that rival illegal drugs. There's more, but the ultimate objective is to eliminate smoking anywhere on the face of the Earth.
This is pure fascism - using the power of the state to deny this simple pleasure from being enjoyed anywhere. And, when the national and global antismoking campaign is successful, these same people will turn their attention to banning the consumption of meat, fish, cookies, candy, potato chips, soft drinks, or anything else they decide you should not enjoy.
Do smokers have any rights? Apparently not.
You are welcome...wish more people would see this as a gov't control issue than anything else. Somehow people totally miss that point. Glad so many here realize it.
Strange interpretation.
Personally, I'm against any anti-discrimination law regarding tobacco use. (among other things) If we can no longer descriminate against smokers, then I could no longer descriminate against non-smokers. It is a two way street (maybe).
How?
Are you one of those conservatives that believe the only rights we have were specifically called out in the constitution?
_______
If anyone believes the above, I would suggest actually reading the document in question.
You are so right. And there is room for all of us without government intervention.
I don't think it is legal - but the PC crowd readily accepts smoking pot while they reject smoking tobacco. Neither one is particularly good for you.
But pot rots your mind so the liberals love it. Pot smokers inevitably vote socialist becuase their mental capacity is diminished.
Interesting info. Thanks. This looks like it may be a good alternative to "brand name" cigarettes.
I'd still rather pass a smoker on the highway then a pot user. That's for sure. At least regular cigarettes don't make one feel all crazy in the head. I can still function with a clear head. :)
I used to be a smoker, before my heart attack, and yes I think smokers should be able to smoke where, when they want, they are part of society, and pay taxes, so therefore, they should be able to enjoy the first admendment, and if my husband dies before I do, I will go back to smoking till I die, no matter what the price is, nomatter what the law is....my right, I earned it the hard way!!!
Plus, the bags of loose tobacco doesn't have all those additives in it. I noticed a big difference since rolling my own.
2,000,000 imates in our jails and prisons
can't be wrong!!
Because it has been demonstrated (if not proven) that for everyone except a very few people with a real illness, that the "damage" from SHS is psychological, a neurosis.
Love the attitiude. Hope you continue being a non-smoker, though.
Well, I enjoy smoking. And my coffee. :)
As long as I enjoy it, I doubt if I could quit. I don't want to quit so I won't try.
I have been rolling my own now for over 4 years. When the state increased taxes on my premiums and a carton ran between $45-$50 dollars for 10 packs, I finally listened to my fellow FReepers. So many of them told me to roll my own, and I tried it and have never looked back.
For a little under $8 dollars, I can roll out a beautiful carton of cigarettes. The savings has been wonderful!
And when you have two smokers in the house, the expense is horrifying.
Well, tobacco is still a legal commodity. I am not into pot so I don't follow it. I'm stuck in this war on smokers.
How long before smoking tobacco will be a crime?
If the government bans it, then it will become a crime.
You mean it's not? The way I get treated by some people you would think it rates slightly above pedophilia on the crime list.
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