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 ...
So...are you with us or against us? Who's going to take the time to read all that? This is the age of information and sound bites, Man! LOL!
LOL!!
And IIRC, they are two of the main states that do coal mining. But of course that has nothing to do with lung cancer. Pffffft
Al Capone understood that there are huge profits to be earned, when the government fights against it's citizens.
In the immortal words of Forest Gump:
"Stupid is, as stupid does!"
1. Kentucky is the top of the list for lung cancer for women too (West Virginia falls to #3, behind Nevada). How many women coal miners have you met? Hint: blame smoking, not mining.
2.At any given point there are only about 15,000 coal miners (surface and underground) in the state of West Virginia (Source: The West Virginia Office of Miners. That's about 1% of the male population. If 100% got lung cancer at some point during their lives, it STILL wouldn't account for the discrepency. Sorry.
"I will become the next 'Al Capone,' when the government crosses this line once again."
Do you need someone to ride shotgun? If so, I'm your Gal, LOL!
Any time "Bonny!"
Encourage teens to smoke; they'll quit or never start.
Also, they might have other habits that increase lung cancer, like diet...or bluegrass music... ;-)
Start fining them for attempted purchases. Fine them for possessing it. And find them for using it.
While this will move it undergound a bit, after a few rounds of highly publicized teens getting smacked with $100 fine for smoking a cigarette, purchasing, or just plain possesing it will start to put a sizable dent in it.
"Only Yesterday", one of my favorite history books!
How does that saying go...
"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it"?
Those that remember history, know how to profit!
Thanks. It'd been a long time since I'd read it.
LOL! I think my name actually WAS "Bonny" in another life. It was also "Cougar Annie" and "Molly Pitcher." ;)
Man! If we were only allowed to choose the eras we were born into, what a greater adventure Life would be and all of this Socialism could've been stomped out decades ago!
I need my own Holodeck...
God placed us on Earth for a reason. Each and every one of us has a job to do.
Sometimes, "raising hell" is what we were put on Earth to do.
LOL!
Then you should be celebrating the existence and rights of smokers.
Old Adolf was way ahead of the curve in the anti-smoking movement.
The fact that you celebrate something he wanted, but never happened would really frost really frost his gonads.
That is, unless you help him achieve one of his goals.
I've been saying that for years........
When they were changing the laws in Delaware about it I suggested adding fines for the underage purchasers/users and the reaction of the anti-smokers was "We can't do that, it's not fair to them because hey are addicted."
I kid you not.....but no, I can not provide a link to that because it was something said to me in the state house and in a letter to the editor long before the particular paper was online.
OTOH, many of us would be dead peasants. X-P
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.