Smoking an addiction that harms you and others

May 12, 2008 11:15 pm

— Hi all you smokers! Whew phew. I’m old enough to have lived through when only men smoked, rolled their own, then store-made cigarettes. Everybody started smoking (you were an outsider if you didn’t) encouraged by the media, Army and each other. Why? You know: money, money. Lucrative business, especially for the government.
Then payback, people began to die of cancer, children with respiratory diseases — culprit — tobacco and additives. Slowly over the years they began to realize how harmful, not sinful, they were.
My question is not where they can smoke, but why the FDA or someone does not make it illegal to make them available if they are that harmful to everyone. Again, money, money.
Now put that in your pipe and smoke it! If you are still smoking, stop! I know it makes you feel good, temporarily. It’s an addiction. Grit your teeth, hang in there and stop! Something that harms not only you but everyone around you, especially those you love and because they love you too.
Maxine McCullough
Ottumwa