IT'S TIME FOR GOVERNMENTS TO OUTLAW TOBACCO PRODUCTS

Whether 230 days of abstinence from the devil weed has either cleansed my
body and mind, and improved the image of a social pariah, is not the point
of today's homily.

Suffice to say that I think I feel better after slightly more than seven
months of cigarette sobriety following a half-century of mindless indulgence.

For that, I thank the manufacturers of Zyban, a medicant with a 22-per-cent
success rate in smoking cessation among hard-core idiots, considerably
higher than most other methods recommended as useful aids in quitting the
habit.

My experience among people who smoke is that those who develop a genuine
desire to stop will find a way, but rarely if ever does that decision have
anything to do with the cost of the product.

Tobacco manufacturers and governments have historically raised the cost of
smoking and consumers have routinely whined for a day or so before
accepting the price of killing themselves.

Price out

Simply put, you can't price the problem out of existence.

That's why I found it somewhat surprising to read this week that the
federal government is poised for another attempt to discourage smoking
among the young people of the country by driving up the cost.

Finance Minister Paul Martin proposes increasing the price of a carton of
cigarettes by as much as $16, restoring taxes to levels that existed before
Ottawa and the provinces reduced taxes in 1994 to cope with smuggling rings.

Yet there is no evidence that the government is now better prepared to deal
with the matter of contraband product almost certain to resurface.

Meanwhile, while Martin again attempts to price out the 28 per cent of
Canadian boys and 29 per cent of Canadian girls aged 15 to 19 who already
smoke, Health Minister Allan Rock is proposing to gross them out, with
pictures of damaged lungs, addled brains, dirty teeth and clogged arteries
using up to 60 per cent of cigarette packages.

Do the ministers and their well-meaning advisors really believe today's
children will be spooked by grotesque picture and increased taxes on
cigarettes?

Like the kids of every other generation, the 2000 models react negatively
to adult-imposed sanctions and look upon these kinds of restrictions as
challenges to be met.

End the hypocrisy

They're also smart enough to read the hypocrisy of governments that preach
and legislate against the evils of tobacco, yet never explain why it is
quite all right to continue collecting taxes on the sinful substance.

Canadian governments, federal and provincial, regard themselves as world
leaders in the fight against nicotine, but the time has come for them to
stop talking out of both sides of their faces.

It's time for the federal government to do the honourable thing: declare
tobacco to be an illegal product (because a case can be made that it is
more addictive than marijuana) and forfeit the massive tax revenues and
declare Canada to be a smoke-free country.

Otherwise, stop pretending to fight the tobacco problem by increasing the
cost. That looks too much like an old-fashioned tax grab.