"Tobacco could not be sold without government support. Some people make the point that tobacco remains legal so that the government can tax it and commit genocide at the same time.







by Christine Ross

(for henrymakow.com)



We all know tobacco can cause lung cancer and heart disease. And we know the mass media suppressed this knowledge for many years due to tobacco industry pressure.

But did you know that smoking tobacco can make you crazy? That's the power of mass media. For years, medical literature has documented that smoking tobacco can cause brain damage. And that same brain damage can lead to insanity, crime, alcoholism, promiscuity, and a host of other ills.

When was the last time you heard that on the evening news? Or that medical research now considers smoking itself to be a form of mental illness?

Visit a mental institution or penitentiary, and you will find the inmates smoke like chimneys. Indeed, the mentally ill smoke 44% of all cigarettes smoked in the USA. A recent Australian study demonstrated that 80% of schizophrenics smoke. (See Notes Below)



While not all smokers are criminals, it is a fact that most criminals are smokers. It used to be common knowledge that smoking damaged character. Smoking damages character by causing brain damage in the brain's areas of self-control and morality. For that reason, famed inventor of the light bulb Thomas Edison and auto manufacturer Henry Ford both refused to hire smokers.

Likewise, while not all smokers are alcoholics, it is a fact that most alcoholics are either smokers or former smokers. The fact that tobacco is a gateway drug leading to other drugs like alcohol has been recognized by the medical community for centuries. Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in the USA, noted the relation of smoking to alcoholism in his writings 200 years ago.

The power of the mass media to control minds and shape public opinion has altered public perception on smoking. Obviously, inhaling smoke is bad for your health. Your lungs are designed to inhale fresh clean air, not smoke.

Smoking leaves tar over everything it touches - clothing, drapes, carpets, etc. The tar is difficult if not impossible to remove.

Yet movies used to depict a filthy, disgusting habit like smoking as something glamorous and "cool." And countless men and women smoked themselves to death as a result.

There has been much talk in the USA of health care "reform." Yet nowhere does there seem to be any acknowledgment that people have a right to buy products that will not harm them. Or that the sale and promotion ot these products, such as tobacco, is a kind of genocide.