Posted on 08/31/2006 5:30:49 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Last week, the state finally outlawed underage smoking. Critics say that's not enough.
With the lowest cigarette tax in the nation and a dead-last ranking in smoking prevention, South Carolina remains one of the last true smokers' outposts.
But from the Pee Dee River to Parris Island, the Palmetto State's "smoke-and-let-smoke" ethic is changing - at least when it comes to teenage partakers. By becoming one of the last states to outlaw teenage possession of tobacco on Aug. 21, the legislature and Gov. Mark Sanford (R) took the state's first tentative steps toward state-sponsored smoking prevention.
The gambit itself won't likely change many minds. In fact, critics expect police won't find much time to impose a $25 fine, up to five days of community service, and possibly a lecture from the judge's bench on an underage smoker. Yet experts say the law does have meaning, not only for parents trying to bolster their own "don't smoke" sermons, but for an antismoking movement that, until now, has failed to gain purchase in a state that perhaps takes tobacco more seriously than any other.
"There's a wide variety in states about the level of legislative activism [on tobacco]," says Dick Vallandingham, director of prevention services for the Beaufort County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Department. "But even if you're at the tail end like South Carolina and you've got your feet dragging the back end of the wagon, you're still in the wagon."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Ping!
The last outpost of liberty in the United States?
The only place left not under the jackboots of the intolerant 'Democrats'?
Lets see . Since its the last place to outlaw teen smoking can we assume the lung cancer rate in S. Carolina is much worse than anywhere else in this country? That people are dropping like flies?
Uninformed minds want to know. Is this actually the case? Somehow I doubt it. Might be interesting to find out though.
William Buckley came up with the best idea I've heard: issue smoking licenses, to adults only. Can't buy any kind of tobacco product without one.
In order to obtain one, one would have to sign a release form affirming that he knows the risks involved and that he will not be able to sue the tobacco industry for any damages to his health.
Yes! South Carolina has one of the highest incidences of lung cancer in the country, behind Kentucky (which coincidentally has the nation's highest rate of smoking).
In 2002, the last year for which full figures are available, South Carolina men had a 103.4/100,000 incidence of lung cancer, vs. only 38.1 / 100,000 in nearly smoke-free Utah.
How about that release also renounces their claim to Medicare, Medicaid, private health insurance, and St. Elsewhere laws?
Yes. Freedom = the ability to get your kids hooked on cancer sticks.
I'm sure that's exactly what Jefferson and Madison and friends were thinking about...
Wisconsin is just getting back into the 'Tobacco as Cash Crop' biz. When I was a teen in High School, all of the farm kids that I went to school with were given an acre or so from the family farm to tend themselves during the summer months. Every kid I knew back then planted Tobacco...and drove to school the following year in a spanking new truck or sports car. (This was '74-'78.)
And NONE of them smoked, LOL! My friend Linda was the coolest of the cool and she couldn't wait to get out of our Cow Town and "Make It" in The Big City as an Artist. She was in New York for all of six months and she came back home to work her family farm because she was starving to death, LOL! She always had/still has their barn painted up in a mural of some sort. It's in the local papers nearly every year. :)
Stephen King wrote a short story once about a company that helped people quit smoking. Every time you were caught smoking they'd cut one of your fingers off.
Feel free to ignore this Smoke Gnatzie. Engage him at your own peril. You have been warned. ;)
Nanny State PING...........
If it is illegal to purchase it (under 18 for tobacco, under 21 for alcohol) it should be illegal to possess it.......if they are going to be nannies about stuff, they should at least be consistent.
Delaware does not permit the sale of tobacco to anyone under 18, but if you are under 18 and purchase it you are in the clear........go figure.
I would go along with that IF everything every smoker has paid into the systems is refunded.........
Diana in Wisconsin, what the HELL do YOU know about Nazis? I am a Jew. I grew up in Poland (now Russia) in the late 1930's. I left in 1943. Let me tell you something: I think I know something about the Nazis.
You be one with it gal, Diana.....and it's especially interesting you've caught on to this one as you are a known non-smoker.
In that case maybe this wil be helpful , although I doubt it. Kids usually find ways to get what they want. Smokes, Pot, Amphetamines, Cocaine, liquor.
The upcoming hurricane might help too. Hard to smoke soggy cigarettes...
Actually, it was the fingers of your loved ones that they would cut off if you cheated and smoked!
The narrator of the story learned this when he met a husband & wife who caved to 'The Smoke Gnatzies' and went through their "Re-education Camp." When the Narrator shook her hand when they were introduced, the WIFE was missing her little finger.
It was the husband that "cheated" and the wife who paid the price. Typical. LOL!
"Quitters, Inc." Loved it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.