I read the article “Tobacco-related deaths likely to increase in Africa,” (SN 10/24) and I have no problem with what was written, but with the ideas behind it. The World Health Organization wants the government to get involved in tobacco sales and distribution in African countries. They feel that taxes are necessary to cut the use of tobacco products. We already have this problem in the United States, and it doesn’t work.

I have smoked for four years. When I started buying cigarettes they were only $2 a pack. The government then passed a tax to raise the price to $2.25, then $2.75, and now they can cost up to $4 a pack. Why does the government feel the need to butt in on our lives? If I decide to smoke, the only person it hurts is me.

For some reason the government feels the need to play parent to its citizens. If the countries of Africa respond to the WHO requests, it won’t solve anything. Tobacco is a drug and it is addictive, but who are they to tell me or anyone else that smoking is bad? I know smoking is bad, I have seen the commercials and I don’t care. I have made a life choice and I choose to stand by it. This does not make me a bad person, it makes me an individual. We all have the right to make choices, and just because it isn’t the popular one, doesn’t mean it is the wrong one.

Brian Selewski
interdisciplinary studies
in social science junior