TWO EXTREMES OF REGULATION

Kingsley Guy's column illustrated the two extremes of regulation: At
one end, an unfettered free market; at the other, prohibition. The
optimum point (of minimum societal damage) is somewhere in between.

Our legislative bodies have difficulty getting it right. They are
influenced by campaign contributions from vested interests. As Mr. Guy
observes, Florida may be moving tobacco too far, almost to the extreme
of "the un-winnable drug war," as he puts it. That would be a tragedy.

The drug war still rages because of drug fighters' careers, stock
portfolios and egos. Tobacco must not go down that path.

John Chase, Palm Harbor