Tobacco.org

PRICE: I'll shed no tears for fate of Joe Camel 

The president and I have a few things in common: a vastly underappreciated game of basketball (long abandoned, in my case), a wife who looks capable of winning arm-wrestling matches (and has, in my wife's case -- just not, ahem, against me), and a history with tobacco we'd both like to forget. . . .

No matter what you might think about Obama's health care efforts, it's tough to deny one overarching philosophy: A wellness strategy will ultimately deliver better results than the reactive, ultra-expensive fix-'em-when-they-start-bleeding approach we have now. The government's move to regulate tobacco products like the drugs they are is an important step in that direction.

Obama's not going to take your cigarettes, but he eventually might cause you to want them a little less urgently. Complain about ever-expanding federal government, if that's the way you feel about it, but don't confuse that issue with this. Celebrate the fact that we're finally treating tobacco companies with all the apprehension, fear and mistrust they so richly deserve.

Jump to full article »