PRICE OF CIGARETTES

I read in "Cigarette price hike could turn many away" that government health
officials predict that 3.5 million Americans would quit smoking if tobacco
prices rise by 50 percent. This prediction is faulty.

Former President George Bush tried the same thing with the War on Drugs. He
claimed that raising penalties would make drugs harder to get because the
prices would rise out of the reach of the average drug user. What happened
was crime rose because addicts needed a way to cope with the artificially
high prices of illicit drugs. We currently put people in prison at a cost of
$25,000 per year, yet they still get the drugs!

How much does a cigarette cost in a prison with a no-smoking policy? What
kind of violence does it induce?

Raising the price of cigarettes by 50 percent will lead to the proliferation
of "black market cigarettes," not a reduction in use by poorer people, as
the CDC survey predicts.

I predict that within the next several years, we will see the end of
marijuana prohibition and the possession of cigarettes could become
punishable by a mandatory minimum prison sentence.

Cigarette smokers of today may need medical marijuana tomorrow to deal with
cancer treatments. For more information, see "Marijuana, Not Guilty as
Charged" by Sonoma author and cancer survivor David R. Ford.

Let's end laws of prohibition and find some real solutions. We may Even find
ourselves saving a few bucks along the way.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"