Friday, April 29, 2011

Extorting Big Tobacco again

Or at least trying.
See, was a group of Missouri hospitals trying to sue Phillip-Morris again for the supposedly unpaid medical care of smokers going back to 1993.
1993? but didn't Bill Clinton's money grab happen in 1998?

Why yes it did! And those hospitals probably got a lot of specialized goodies from that billion dollar settlement, too.
Now, everyone knows, and has known since the sixties- 50 years ago- that tobacco has tar and nicotine that cause all kinds of respiratory problems, right?

That's why states are cracking down so hard on tobacco sales- and incrementally raising taxes, because it's bad and we need to punish smokers!
YEAH- and make them smoke outside!

On the other hand, we have a smokable product that has been illegal since they first declared a war on drugs- that is now becoming almost legal. It is legal in some states if you go to the right Dr.
BUT- it contains massively more tar and nicotine than tobacco. The stuff that the anti-tobacco people are raising hell about.

I smoked weed when I was young and stupid, and I knew back then that something that made you cough worse than a cigarette wasn't good for you, so I didn't do it that often.
(Yes Mr. 0bama, it's in my military records that I got a waiver for it- wanna see it?)

Now with all these states pretty much legalizing hemp, and all these people getting it through state ...weed Pharms- when people who never smoked cigarettes start getting the same respiratory problems as smokers--are we going to see trial lawyers going after states?
Because weed is bad, but cool-so we won't see huge law suits since it's not cool to harsh someones mellow like that, man.

1 comment:

  1. Lots of tar, yes - nicotine is not present in cannabis, far as I know.

    Either our "lawmakers" are real idiots, ignoring the future health consequences, or they are plotting a multi-trillion-dollar "marijuana settlement" against whatever huge corporations take over pot growing and distribution after it's legalized.

    About that tar - "e-cigarettes" that provide atomized nicotine and flavoring but none of the other harmful stuff are about to be "regulated" by the FDA. Seems like an "e-joint" would provide everything the medicinal pot users - and the potheads - would want without the obvious health costs - but that makes too much sense to me to ever happen.

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