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TERRY’S SMOKING TIDBITS

By Terry Gray

Black Market

Remember I warned you about raising the price of cigarettes, cigarette bans, and tobacco prohibition?  That warning was in the December 22 issue of The Jefferson Review, “Will Tobacco Profits Lie On The Wrong Side Of The Law?”  I’ve also mentioned this little item more than once over the years.

Hey, KHIK and other anti-smoking Nazi organizations want to do away with tobacco but not before they bleed smokers and tobacco companies for every cent.  “Let’s run them out of business for the health of workers and to save the children.  But first we need to make some more money; it’s only right.”

Raising the price of cigarettes is not going to keep kids from getting them.  It seems to me that there is a law that people under 18 cannot buy cigarettes.  Obviously, they aren’t getting them legally.  So how are they getting them?  I would guess there are three options: stealing them, buying them from kids that have stolen them and/or buying them from “dealer” kids that have been hired by adults.  Pretty picture ain’t it?

So the answer to making it harder for kids to get cigarettes is to raise prices?  If kids are stealing cigarettes, then money doesn’t really matter, does it?  If they are buying them from kids that are stealing them, the price won’t be affected either.  If they are buying them from “dealer” kids hired by adults, then the price may go up some.  Then the kids that can’t afford the higher price of cigarettes will then steal them, or worse, they’ll beat up the kid that is selling them and just take the smokes.

Another thing that the antis fail to consider is that raising the price of cigarettes may actually make them easier for kids to get.  Face it, with higher prices, there are bigger profits.  Bigger profits means more “dealers”.  More “dealers” means more availability. These dealers are already breaking the law, so they don’t care if they sell to 18-year-olds or 13-year-olds.

So what are we doing here?  We are only encouraging a class of criminal that didn’t exist a few years ago.  But more to the point, the criminals that we are encouraging are mostly kids.

Governor Fletcher is all for a higher tax on cigarettes, but he is only for the tax if it is a neutral tax.  He wants the revenue from the higher tax to allow a tax break somewhere else.  The antis maintain that raising the price of cigarettes will keep kids from smoking and provide more money to their war chest.  It is obvious that neither scenario will play out.

In New York City, “tobacco crimes” are getting worse every day.  A recent article in the New Zealand Times, of all places, points to New York City’s high prices and gives us a little human interest piece about the black market and death.

The article, “New York mayor spawns cigarette black market” begins by leading us to believe that the article is about the illegal drug trade.  (Yes, I know what the title says.)  But we learn that “Cody” is killed while peddling smokes.

“As far as the cops can tell, Cody spotted members of rival
pushers, tried to run but went down hard as his attackers piled
on. With one hand clutching the overstuffed garbage bag of
contraband he had been peddling, he did not put up much of a fight
before the knife found his throat.”

Well shoot, Terry, that’s New York City, and the article is from a New Zealand Newspaper.  This is Louisville Kentucky, not New York City or New Zealand.  My hat is off to you for pointing this out.  However, sometimes it takes an outside, objective observation to put things in perspective.  The Kiwi writer couldn’t be any farther removed.  Now think about the hype of making Louisville a “World Class City” just like New York City. 

I guess one way to bring Louisville into the future is to increase our black market crime, turn kids into criminals and get innocent people killed, all for the causes of “healthy work environments” and the “welfare of the children.”

“Cody Knox was doing a brisk business near the Brooklyn Mall
when Michael Bloomberg killed him.”  

Is Jerry Abramson next?

Fire Safe Cigarettes?

It isn’t what you think.  Phillip Morris has a cigarette on the market, The Eclipse, which is nothing more than a nicotine patch that you stick in your mouth.  No smoke for the nannies and antis to whine about.  But that isn’t the safe cigarette to which I’m referring.

New York has now issued fire-safe cigarette standards to help protect stinky, stupid, smoking people.  Secretary of State Randy Daniels says that cigarettes are like fuses that can catch stuff on fire.  I’m waiting for fire-safe matches that emit no flame or heat; just strike a match and “poof”, nothing happens.

I have a suggestion: why not just tell people not to smoke when they are sleepy?  But far better than that would be to just tell people not to smoke while drinking or doing downers.  Of course the best of all would be to tell people, “don’t drink, don’t do drugs, and don’t smoke.”  Try that Randy, I bet it works.  But if it doesn’t, just raise the price of everything dangerous add and warnings and instructions written at the 3^rd grade level so everybody can understand.  “Do not go to sleep while you are smoking!”  Look at all the lives that would save.  Here are some other great suggestions.

We could really make great strides with this plan.  “Do not use toaster in the shower!”  “Do not lie under car while it is moving!”  “Point barrel of gun away from you!”  “Do not slam head in front door!”  “Don’t carpool with drunks!”  OH YES, I think I’m on to something.  The problem is, do we really want to save the kind of people that would do this stuff? 

Well, remember the next time you go out partying and start to get in your car - get out your list of warnings and search for this beauty:  “Drinking and driving?  Please don’t smoke!”

Let Freedom SCREAM!

Terry Gray

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