by Leann Zotis

Created on: May 10, 2008   Last Updated: November 10, 2010

If tobacco were a product being imported from Colombia or some other South American country, it would have been banned decades ago. Tobacco is a "cash crop" in the United States and the powerful lobbyists in Washington D.C. can be given the credit for the addiction, health problems and ultimately the deaths of millions of people around the world. Money is the reason tobacco companies exist with only superficial regulation placed upon them.

Anyone who claims they "didn't know" the dangers they were facing when they took up this filthy addiction are only fooling themselves. For an enlightening look at the ugly behind the scenes workings of the tobacco industry one need only pick up "The Gilded Leaf", an eye-opening account of the tobacco culture written by Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R. J Reynolds, one of the founding fathers in this deadly industry. In this explosive expose, Reynolds documents that, not only did tobacco manufacturers know their product was addictive and deadly, they actually incorporated addictive properties into the processing of the tobacco. If their customers couldn't manage to become addicted to nicotine due the nature of their own addictive personalities, the tobacco industry could help them along.

If the highly documented facts in "The Gilded Leaf" are to be believed, the tobacco industry knew what they were doing and what the results would be decades before the 1964 warning on cigarette packages from the surgeon general appeared. They knew and they suppressed that knowledge! Why? To reap their fortunes while they could and to put off the inevitable backlash once the truth was known. Tobacco was king for several generations. Fortunes were made because people chose to be too blind to see the obvious facts.

Cigarette smoking is a choice. Every choice in life carries with it a high level of responsibility. The outcome of this particular choice is clear and always has been. If I choose to drive a car at a high rate of speed and cause property damage, injury or death I can expect to be held accountable for my actions. I will have to pay for what I have done and my insurance premium will sky-rocket because of my actions.

If I choose to be careless in my intimate relationships and find myself pregnant, alone and unmarried, I will have to own up to that decision. I have only the choices of abortion, adoption or a twenty year commitment to raising the child that results from my actions. Each of those decisions carries with it a high level of personal responsibility.

If I choose to be uncommitted in my educational pursuits, refuse to seek gainful employment and generally do not provide for myself, I will spend my life struggling to survive and may end up as a burden to my family or to society in general.

I have chosen my path - I must live with my decision.

Why should cigarette smoking be any different? The person who chooses cigarette smoking as a lifestyle choice should be responsible for every expense and risk incurred. It starts with the first cigarette. Valuable disposable income must be relinquished each day, each week, each month, each year, to support this addiction. The costs to employers are greater for smokers than for non-smokers. Who should be expected to pay for that?

The quality of life goes down with each passing year for smokers who can't breathe well enough to walk any distance, who cough and gag trying to clear their lungs, who will ultimately lose years of their precious life to their own poor decisions. Who should be expected to pay for that?

It is clear that smokers, just like everyone else in every avenue of life, should ultimately take the responsibility for their personal choices.

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