Submitted by Jeff Buster on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 17:00.
When your government gets “sin” tax money from cigarettes (and gambling), and uses these taxes for their pay checks, there will never be a real incentive to improve the public health and welfare.
If your politicians decrease smoking – it will threaten their income stream.
So the cigarette manufacturers have struck upon a bargain made in Hell.
The cigarette companies will always be allowed to continue to manufacture, distribute and sell addictive cigarettes – because our government relies on them for money.
In Hamburg, Germany the message on the box is clear (though in English) “SMOKING KILLS”.
In Canada the message is clear “IDLE BUT DEADLY”
And at the recent Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) high school show Tabitha Morikis gets the message straight “MALBRAINO”
Meanwhile, the messages on the sides of our US cigarette boxes are only mildly “warning” in comparison – that’s because our government needs to keep cigarette sales up.
Who do you know who has been killed by cigarettes? Someone close?