It seems that our government is taking over another industry almost every day. This time it is the tobacco industry. Congress has passed legislation that will give them much more control over tobacco. It gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Which means the FDA will now get rid of flavored cigarettes and bar them from using terms such as light or mild.
For me this has less to do with health of Americans and more to do with government intervention in private industry. Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but if you do not understand that smoking is harmful, or you do and choose to smoke anyways, then you should simply reap what you sow. If you cannot keep your kids from smoking, then that is a failure as a parent. Its not big tobacco’s fault or the governments fault. For those who do choose to smoke you will notice that this legislation will be paid for by additional fees on tobacco companies so your habit just got a little more expensive. You can call it a healthcare tax, because that is the reason for this legislation.
They estimate that it will cut government healthcare costs by $100 Billion a year. That is, of course, if smoking declines by their estimates. I would not be surprised to see the government start to intervene in anything they deem unhealthy. Coke-Zero anyone? All of this leads to lowering healthcare costs so the government can take that over as well. They have found the one thing more addictive than nicotine. Power.
