Jump to full article: Dickinson (ND) Press, 2010-07-28
Author: Kevin Holten, The Dickinson Press
Intro: Do you know what I found really interesting about North Dakota when I moved back after having been away for 20-plus years? There are still so many people who smoke.
Having traveled all over the country over that same period, and particularly in the western states most recently, I rarely saw people who smoke. In fact, there are 33 million people in California and I think maybe five of them smoke. . . .
To your average Californian smoking is a little like listening to an eight track tape, watching black and white TV, wearing a leisure suit . . .
And when was the last time you saw a Hollywood megastar on TV or in the movies smoking a cigarette? It just doesn’t happen. . . .
In fact, my dad was a smoker when I was a kid. He used to sit in the corner of the living room in his Lazy Boy and suck on Old Gold cigarettes . . .
Recent estimates of the annual cost to the United States in smoking-related health care and lost workdays are at least $100 billion a year. Whew, $100 million a year. I can think of a lot of things I’d rather buy than your future oxygen tank with that kind of money.
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