Tobacco

Missouri smokers' rights in flames

Remember when all you needed to hold your pack of smokes was a shirt pocket? Now, with cigarette prices hitting $10 in some states, you're better off keeping them under lock and key.

With greedy politicians taxing the tar out of cigarettes, you've probably felt too poor to smoke for years. And that's right where our nanny state government wants you.

Because in cities across America, Big Brother is rolling out a dangerous social experiment in his pathetic war on tobacco -- and America's poorest families are about to become collateral damage.

Kansas City has become the latest city to threaten to throw low-income families out on the street for smoking in government subsidized housing. The 40% of subsidized housing residents who smoke have until July 1 to quit -- or they'll be trading their warm, cozy apartments for a park bench and a garbage can fire.

No matter how you feel about subsidized housing, remember that we're talking about senior citizens (many of them vets!) and families with kids here, and they could be weeks from homelessness, because in this propaganda-filled, anti-tobacco country we're living in, only non-smokers have rights.

What's next, friend? Brainwashed bureaucrats sifting through trash cans, on the hunt for ashes? Tobacco sniffing dogs patrolling apartment hallways? Meanwhile, we're depriving Americans of healthy tobacco, like fresh cigars, that can keep your brain sharp and even ward off painful joint replacement surgery.

But the health benefits of smoking are beside the point. This is about personal liberty. This is about your freedom to make an adult choice IN YOUR OWN HOME!

And more and more, it's about your rights going up in smoke.

Big Government thugs harassing tobacco retailers

It's 3 a.m. and you're waiting in an alley in a long trench coat. Suddenly, a dark figure steps out of the shadows, presses a small package firmly in your hands, and quickly disappears.

No, he didn't hand you a baggie of heroin. It wasn't a stolen handgun either.

It was a pack of Marlboros! And if that sounds crazy to you... if you don't think you should have to sneak around like a criminal to exercise your RIGHT to smoke... you'd better start making noise before it's too late.

More than two dozen states have sent official letters to pharmacy retailers Rite Aid, Walgreen, Kroger, Safeway and Walmart asking them to stop selling tobacco forever. These same Big Government thugs who have been attacking your right to light up for years now want to tell PRIVATE businesses what they can sell.

And it's all because these nanny-state liberals smell blood in the water. A few weeks back, CVS caved to their pressure and announced it would pull tobacco products next year. Their CEO even hopped on his soapbox and claimed tobacco was no longer compatible with the chain's health focus.

Oh please spare me. If there's ever a Hypocrite Olympics, CVS will take home the gold. This is the same company that offers coupons and money-back rebates on hard alcohol... the same company that has made BILLIONS hawking prescription drugs that have been linked to the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that you'll still be able to stroll into any CVS store across America and buy all the vodka, Oxycontin, and super-sized bags of candy you can carry.

Uncle Sam's move to yank tobacco out of pharmacies doesn't have a darned thing to do with your health. It's a groin shot to the entire tobacco industry that will threaten its very right to exist.

Tobacco companies sell $2 billion worth of their product every year through CVS -- and you'd better believe that's a drop in the bucket next to Walmart.

Listen, I'd rather put a toilet-handle in my mouth than a cigarette, because who wants to smoke burning paper? And don't even get me started on the chemicals you could be sucking down. But I DO smoke delicious all-tobacco cigars every single day, and the tobacco and nicotine help me fight everything from heart disease to cognitive decline.

But that's entirely beside the point, isn't it? Because, in this country of all places, you ought to be able to follow the old maxim "smoke 'em if you got 'em" without worrying about some government goon looking over your shoulder while you do.

So the next time you're in one of these pharmacy retailers Big Government is targeting, walk right up to the counter and buy your tobacco product of choice. And make sure you let the manager know that the day they stop doing business with tobacco companies, they're done doing business with you, too.