Smokers are people, not criminals

Illegal activities take place all the time in this country. And not sort-of crimes but real, violent crimes. One would think that we as a society would focus our efforts at preventing these crimes. Still, every day there are millions of law abiding Americans who are persecuted and pushed farther and farther to the fringes of society: smokers.

Now, I don't smoke. I think the tobacco companies have misled people. I think second hand smoke may be a health issue. In spite of all this, smoking is legal, and whether or not a person smokes is a decision they are free to make.

To many, cigarettes are the great evil to be purged. In the X-Files, the mysterious, sinister nemesis is referred to simply as "the smoking man," as if this trait alone were enough to assure us of his evilness. To these people, around every corner is another subliminal message placed by big tobacco to get four year olds to smoke. Most recently, health advocates in Sacramento pushed for smoking to be a criteria in movie ratings. A movie character enjoying a cigarette is lumped in with the murderer, topless actress and foul language. Surely no second hand smoke can pass from George Clooney's Marlboro's to the unsuspecting movie viewer. This is not an issue of health, it is an issue of vilification. Smokers are the modern day lepers, pushed to back sections of restaurants and dingy designated areas of office buildings.

Right here in Maryland the most egregious example of smokers' rights violations almost came to be. The law passed, but vetoed by the county executive in Montgomery County, outlawed smoking, even in your own home, if the smoke bothers a neighbor. The implications of this law are far over reaching. If you live in an apartment and passersby in the hallway merely notice the presence of cigarettes or other tobacco, there would be legal penalties. Again, there is no health issue involved. An accuser only has to demonstrate annoyance at the presence of cigarettes. A tenant of a legally-owned dwelling attempting to use a completely legal substance could be committing a crime.

The government, doing their part to make the smoker a quasi-criminal, enforces outrageous "sin taxes." The revenue raised from these taxes is in the tens of billions. These taxes are unfair for numerous reasons. First of all, more than half of all tobacco price increases will be paid by people with incomes of less than $30,000 a year. Only one percent will be paid by those with incomes of over $100,000. The ones who can afford it the least are being made to pay the most as a penalty for their using a legal consumer product. Hard working, law abiding Americans are forced to fork over disproportionate and unfair amounts of money to the government just to enjoy a nice, legal cigarette. It is important to keep in mind that when tobacco executives are forced to defend themselves to congressional committees, that Uncle Sam gets more than his share from their evil doings.

In essence, these taxes and escalating prices take away the freedom to decide. There are numerous goods that consumers may take a liking to. For my part, I have a particular affinity for Cheez-Its. Unfortunately for me, these delicious cheese crackers are high in cholesterol, which I understand is unhealthy. In spite of that, I choose to spend my money on legal snack food. If tomorrow the government levied a "sin tax" to these cholesterol and salt laden crackers, I would no longer be able to afford them. This would similarly be unfair. There are many things the average person can not afford to begin with, caviar for example. The high price of caviar, though, is a function of supply and demand, not a government decision that I owe society something extra for my choice. Incidentally, these taxes do nothing to discourage smoking in practice. In the UK where a pack of cigarettes is roughly twice as expensive as in the U.S., teen smoking rates are nearly identical.

There are non-tax mechanisms that can limit smoking. Those who don't smoke don't contribute a penny to Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds. If enough people choose not to smoke, these companies will be out of business. It's called Capitalism, and it's the way success and failure of a company should be decided.

Government should be making every effort to defend the right of citizens to enjoy a legally purchased legal substance. Whether or not to smoke is not the decisions of movie stars or senators. If you don't want to smoke, don't. If you don't want to be around smokers, walk the other way. A smoker is not less of a person, just less healthy.