by Wendy O'Connor

Created on: January 09, 2008   Last Updated: April 08, 2008

To penalize people already plagued by a cigarette addiction by forcing them to pay higher taxes for the habit is ridiculous. Is the reasoning behind it the addictive quality? If coffee were suddenly in the same taxed category, would coffee drinkers be perplexed? Certainly, we've been cautioned about caffeine being addicting, just as we were about nicotine. Would coffee drinkers everywhere cease to indulge in that freshly brewed cup tomorrow morning?

Consider this hypothetical scenario:

Each day, a chipper number of early-riser newspaper readers drive to the corner convenience store to pick up their usual, crispy stack of info. For years, they have enjoyed a discount for arriving so promptly. On one particular day, the same early birds are greeted with the announcement that the newspaper now included an added tax for the first few hours of the day. This was, of course, due to recent research suggesting that that was when drivers were at their sleepiest, so they shouldn't be driving to the store that early at all.

Now, hold that thought...

Since we were children, we have been raised in an atmosphere of temptation advertising. While we may have been educated on the evils of smoking, many of us picked up the nasty habit during our teens or earliest adult years, when our emotional state was most vulnerable. We were the tobacco industry's target audience, and the same is true today. While the focus has shifted from the laid-back cowboy to the psychedelic camel, the subliminal message resounds.

The fads of our youth have come and gone, and the packages are no longer meant to appeal to us. But, we don't care what our vice looks like anymore, or who else is doing it: we're hooked, and the cigarette company's job is done. Now, for those of us whose addiction is still prevalent, we are paying not just physically, but monetarily, as well.

So, the real scenario, then, is this:

It is a familiar herd of smokers who drive up to the corner convenience store each day. We've come for our usual, stinky pack of cigs. One particular day, we loyal smokers are greeted with the announcement that the same cigarettes we'd successfully succumbed to now have an added tax. Mind you, the surgeon general has warned that smoking is dangerous, so we shouldn't be smoking at all. But, since we are, wouldn't we like to try the newest brand of cigarettes that come with a free, easy-flick lighter?

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