The American Lung Association has given four San Diego an “F” for smoking restrictions. Debra Kelley, senior director of advocacy for the Lung Association in San Diego, said that while California’s anti-smoking laws lead the nation, that doesn’t mean more can’t be done.

Really? It’s already illegal to smoke at the beach, near buildings, in parks, and bars and restaurants. The reasoning being that second-hand smoke is dangerous to non-smokers. But those studies are incomplete, and sometimes outright bogus. (http://tinyurl.com/yuhvzd) The largest study to conclude that second hand smoke is dangerous was funded by a pharmaceutical company who sells medication to stop smoking. Imagine the hue and cry if a cigarette company produced a study with such self serving results?

We could ban cigarettes, but then what would Washington and Sacramento do without the billions in taxes from the sale of tobacco? A tax that is regressive, since the poorer and less educated one is, the more likely he will smoke. And what percentages of those revenues go to smoking cessation programs? According to the CDC, less than 2% of cigarette taxes actually help people quit smoking. 

So maybe, it’s not the smokers we should ban from our streets, restaurants, parks and public buildings. Maybe it’s time to go after the real merchants of death. Because it’s not smoke that’s killing you, it’s the second hand policies of the political status quo, doing a slow burn on your money and your rights.