It appears that the concept of government as nanny was dealt a blow by a, somewhat, odd pairing of Supreme Court Justices.

Tobacco

Best wishes,,,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), March 21, 2000

Answers

One more try. This link was tested outside of Greenspun and worked.

Tobacco

Hopefully, I think that I see the problem.

Best wishes,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), March 21, 2000.

Hooray! I'm glad to see the Supreme Court supports the idea that adults are responsible for their own decisions. From the very first time I picked up a cigarette I knew they were bad for me - my mother told me, the nuns told me, everyone told me and this was in the 50's. The cigarette companies are not responsible for me becoming a smoker - I am.

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), March 21, 2000.

Hmmm. Now that we've gotten them off our backs concerning tobacco, which eventually kills many of its users, let's see what we can do about legalizing harmless substances such as marijuana and psychedelics.

-- Lenny the Libertarian (@ .), March 21, 2000.

The unintended conseuqences of this maybe the impact the ruling will have on future attempts to regulate the gun industry as well. Andy Cuomo of HUD may not now have the authority to force deals with the gun industry since they went down the federal path forged by the anti-tobacco crowd.

-- Buster (BustrCollins@aol.com), March 21, 2000.

Lenny,

I don't necessarily disagree with you about legalizing drugs but your point has nothing to do with tobacco. Although the evil weed does indeed kill some of its users, other drugs also cause their share of problems like car crashes. It seems that alcohol might be a better comparison than tobacco.

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), March 21, 2000.

>> I'm glad to see the Supreme Court supports the idea that adults are responsible for their own decisions. <<

The court's decision was based (as I hear it, on the radio) on the grounds that the law, as it now stands, does not give the FDA the power to regulate tobacco as a drug. This implies that, if Congress were to pass enabling legislation, the FDA could resume its present course of action. (Hint: Congress won't.)

Nothing in the case addressed the amount of responsibility smokers bear for starting or continuing their addiction. It was all about jurisdiction.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), March 21, 2000.