Nicotine is one of the, if not the, most addictive
substances known to science. By itself, chronic, low level nicotine exposure doesn't usually cause major medical
issues…beside physical addiction. But
when you couple the addictive nature of nicotine with the other chemicals found
in cigarettes, you end up with a lot of dead people. In fact, about 20% of all deaths in the US
every year are smoking related.
Given the ongoing battle between personal rights and public
good, we've struggled to develop an effective strategy to eliminate smoking and
the associated costs, both monetary and organic. While we have made progress in reducing the
percentage of people who smoke and the absolute number of smokers (well, maybe
nature gets and assist with that one) through higher taxes, public service
campaigns and educational initiatives in schools, we can do better. Here’s one approach….
Currently the age at which one can legally purchase and\or
consume cigarettes in the US, which varies by locality, is 18 or 19. I
recommend that we increase the legal age by one year, every year, until it is
at 30. Anybody who can legally purchase
cigarettes today will always be able to legally purchase them. Anybody who can’t legally purchase cigarettes
today will have to wait until they’re 30 to do so.
Some may argue that government doesn't have the authority to
execute this plan….why not? The
government already has the authority to establish the legal age today at 18\19,
why does it lose that authority when it wants to raise the age?
Some may argue that if one is old enough to serve their
country in combat, they are old enough to smoke. It appears lost on those offering this line
of reasoning that a soldier doesn’t walk off the street and onto the battle
field as easily as one walks out of a store with a pack of cigarettes. Soldiers go through 9 months, at a minimum,
of training on how to ‘serve their country in combat’ before actually getting
into combat. They are trained on how to
serve and then, while serving, they receive additional training…all the while
being supervised, corrected and taught by those with more experience. Exactly what training, continuing education
and structured guidance does one get when they become a smoker?
So why is a solution that protects the ‘rights’ of people
already engaged in smoking while addressing the socialized costs of smoking
unlikely to gain much traction with politicians? $17,157,014,000…that’s the amount of revenue
generated in 2009 from taxes on all forms of tobacco. Seventeen billion dollars is a lot of money,
even for politicians ensconced in DC.
Yet it pales in comparison to the monetary costs to society of tobacco
use which tops $200,000,000,000 per year in lost productivity, health care
costs, and premature deaths. (there is
some savings in that smokes tend to die at an earlier age than non-smokers, but
not early enough to show a net savings).
The problem for politicians is that the revenue is easily identified and
booked in near-time speed, while the costs are hidden and cumulative over a
life-time. I can get (re)elected by
bringing home the pork for my constituents, they can see the value I bring them
as their representative and they’ll vote me in.
But I have a very difficult time demonstrating how I’ve actually saved
lives and money when I voted ‘yes’ to increase the legal age.
So we slowly march on making limited and sporadic
improvements in our fight against the costs of smoking.
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