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Finally, if cigarettes are so dangerous (and I think they are), surely the correct thing to do is to make them a Class C drug and allow only registered addicts to purchase them in pharmacies just like other controlled (non-prescription) medicines? Or create a new class (D) and do the same.

It seems like this is a strategy that has been pursued with some success in the case of other hard-core addictions (and which I more or less support), but I would hesitate to add more addiction bureaucracy for a problem where there are other avenues. I mean, as addictive as tobacco is, I haven't heard that it has caused smokers to commit burglaries or mug passers-by.

I think the key is young people. While I disdain the futile War on Drugs, I have no problem with criminal penalties for people who provide to minors. There are a lot of laws targeted at shops that sell cigarettes. I'd probably work on those more. Oh, and the fact that cigs are taxed more highly and have become much more expensive in some places, doesn't seem like a bad thing with respect to 13 year-olds.
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Jim


'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.