Posted on 06/04/2003 7:05:08 PM PDT by Mister Magoo
'Ban all tobacco' - US health chief
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Thursday June 5, 2003 The Guardian
The surgeon general of the United States, Richard Carmona, has said he would support the abolition of cigarettes and all tobacco products, the first time that such a senior public health official has taken that kind of stand over the industry. Dr Carmona's statement was welcomed yesterday by anti-smoking organisations and condemned by the tobacco industry. The Bush administration, which enjoys the support and financial backing of the tobacco industry, yesterday distanced itself from the abolition position.
The US already has some of the toughest anti-smoking legislation in the world. California has led the way. Last year it banned smoking in all areas next to playgrounds or "tot lot" areas. Similar measures are being considered nationwide.
The state, which has banned smoking in public buildings, bars and restaurants, is also considering a ban in some blocks of flats. Delaware has a similar ban. Connecticut will impose one from next April, and this week Maine moved towards a ban. New York has banned smoking in bars and restaurants.
Ordinances framed also by local councils curtailing cigarette smoking are introduced almost weekly. Santa Monica recently made it an offence, punishable by a £160 fine, to dispose of "smoking-related waste" in a public park.
There have, however, been few suggestions that tobacco should be banned altogether.
Dr Carmona made his controversial remarks while giving evidence to energy and commerce sub-committee hearings at Congress on smoking products that supposedly reduce the risk of cancer. He was asked if he would support the abolition of "all tobacco products". He said: "I would at this point, yes."
He said that he was not a legislator but that he would "support banning or abolishing tobacco products ". He saw "no need for any tobacco products in society".
One of the country's leading anti-smoking campaigners, Jeffrey Wigand, the head of Smokefree Kids, said: "I applaud him. I hope that stirs people up to do something. This would set a tremendous precedent and would have a major effect on world health."
Mr Wigand, a tobacco industry whistleblower who was portrayed by the actor Russell Crowe in the film The Insider, said it was notable that such a senior public health official was so outspoken. "There are 460,000 deaths directly attributable to tobacco in the United States every year," said Mr Wigand. "The World Health Organisation estimates that by 2015 tobacco will be killing more than 10 million a year."
He said that the US, as the leading exporter of tobacco, had a particular responsibility to regulate tobacco use.
But Dr Carmona's remarks are unlikely to lead to any radical moves by the administration. The tobacco industry is a longtime supporter of the Republican party and there have been objections by conservative and libertarian commentators to the restaurant and bar smoking bans.
The White House yesterday said that Dr Carmona's remarks represented his views as a doctor, not those of the administration, whose main focus was discouraging young people from smoking. About 45 million Americans smoke, in a population of 280 million.
Tobacco companies have changed their strategies on the issue of regulation. Philip Morris, the country's biggest tobacco company, is running adverts urging teenagers to "think, don't smoke". They argue that their products are aimed at adults and the issue is one of freedom of choice.
Cigarettes in films is the subject of one of the latest anti-smoking campaigns; the public has been urged to complain by writing to actors who smoke on screen. Tobacco firms have denied that they paid for actors to use their products in films.
Who's 'they'? You mean the foreign occupation army which sets their tanks and machinegun nests in front of polling booths across America, and shoots anyone who tries to vote? Them?
Is there anything inherently immoral about using marijuana?
Malum Prohibitum Illegal because they say so.
Malum in se Illegal by common sense and the agreement of all, common law.
Also not.
In 1914, Henry Ford published a tract inveighing against a substance that was enjoying a spike in popularity. He gathered testimonials from a host of luminaries, including Booker T. Washington, who said that the drug caused "a blunting of the moral sense," and Thomas Edison, who said it "has a violent action on the nerve centers, producing degeneration of the cells of the brain, which is permanent and uncontrollable. "I will employ no person," Edison concluded, "who smokes cigarettes."
No, smarty pants, I mean the tobacco habit and that kind of stuff. Gee, and here I am trying to be profound and poetic at the same time! (grin)
Also not.
So, CJ, do you now believe that laws that mandate involuntary anal-rape camp visits, er, jail sentences for people who grow, sell, and possess marijuana be repealed?
And none of that money is finding itself in the pockets of state politicians?? Yah-right-bub. This will happen and mainly becuase WOD profits are down.
LOL, he did that too? I thought he was just well, er, ah, just a business man, yeah, a business man. I guess this would work about as well as prohibition too huh?
With marijuana as the only exception.
Oh, puhhleeze. If anything, your jack-booted federal Drug Warrior heroes are too busy trying to shut down LEGAL medi-pot clinics in California to be bothered with such trivial pursuits.
That Dominican Goddess can roll my double corona any day.
I guess that makes El Rushbo and the rest lazy too. They were all over Joseyln Elders for years.
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