Thu, 27 Mar 2003

Studying the Obvious

I wonder how much it cost the National Cancer Institute to figure this out?

Low-income black smokers light up to relieve stress [Science Blog]

Uh, doh! I also gotta wonder about this little gem from the study:

Smoking rates among black high school students, particularly young men, have increased 80 percent in the past decade, compared with a 28 percent increase among white students.

You mean with Joe Camel gone, and all the money seized from the tobacco companies for anti-smoking "education", and all the price increases for cigarettes that smoking rates are still going up? Hmmmm.... is that the clue phone I hear? WILL SOMEBODY IN WASHINGTON PLEAST GET IT!!!!

The only way you'll ever even come close to eliminating tobacco use is prohibition. That's worked real well in other areas, for instance, marijuana. Nobody smokes pot 'cause it's illegal, right?

Maybe, just maybe, the government should spend less money telling people not to smoke cigarettes, and more money fixing the things that (according to this study) making smoking attractive: like infrastructure repairs, job and education programs, housing, healthcare, etc. I'm not holding my breath waiting for this to happen - it's apparently beyond the governments collective grasp to understand. But I can guarntee you that they'll fund a follow-up study ....

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