Up in Smoke

Clipart from Clipartheaven.com

by JD
Disclaimer: Views of guest editorialist do not necessarily reflect views of editor

I'm sitting in my company cafeteria, watching three older ladies light up. The ladies all three have gray hair, squat bodies and Elton John-looking eyeglasses. All three are pushing retirement age. Their liver-spotted, nicotine stained fingers belie the elegance of jeweled cigarette cases. Gone are those Humphrey Bogart days when cigarettes looked cool; nowadays they lend a decidedly trashy squalor to the smoker. Never mind lung cancer, let's talk about hygiene. Long before cancer sets in, your smokes will give you nicotine fingers, cigarette breath, and a house or car covered with a fine coat of ashes. Cigarettes have an immediate bad effect on your heart and blood circulation. Completely apart from lung cancer, they can steal ten years from your life, and make you look like a trailer park denizen all the time you’re alive. One must ask why anyone in his right mind would ever pick the habit.

I'll admit my attitude is at one extreme; general attitudes toward cigarettes have followed a tortuous path over time. A few years ago, you heard a lot about smoking. There were lots of studies showing its health effects. Smokers sued tobacco companies for health problems caused by years of smoking -- few of these suits were successful. Those who won judgments usually saw them reversed on appeal. States also sued the tobacco companies because healthcare systems were overloaded by smoking-related cases. Some of those suits ended up in settlements of astronomical figures. However, these large settlements didn’t put a dent in the coffers of Big Tobacco. Many cities and states attempted to ban smoking in public buildings, restaurants, and bars. Building and restaurant bans were mostly successful; however, efforts to clear the bars of smoke were mightily resisted by the tavern industry.

I love the clean air, where bans are in place. Fortunately, it’s been years since I worked in a building that allowed work-area smoking. As far as restaurants go, everywhere I eat around Dallas I can enjoy a smoke-free meal. Didn’t realize how nice this was until I recently visited my home state of Tennessee and sat in a white fog for an hour while eating supper. Whenever I visit California, one of the things I enjoy most is the smoke free bars. What we need is smoke free bars, nationwide.

We should redouble our efforts to discourage cigarette addiction. First, we should stop all smoking in public places nationwide. If people want to ruin their own lungs, that's their business; however, making others breathe their second hand smoke is unacceptable. The second thing we should do is increase taxes on cigarettes. Start with $1 per year increase until we reach $10 tax per pack. That tax money should go to reimburse unpaid medical bills by smokers. It’s time that smokers paid for their fair share of increased costs to the health care system. And you ladies in the cafeteria -- get some Nicorette gum, some hand lotion for the liver spots and add a healthful year back to your life.

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