Wednesday, May 13, 1998

A suggestion for how to end smoking

By Bob Greene

RICHMOND, Va. -- The sight of the big Philip Morris manufacturing plant here evokes an odd combination of reactions.

It's one of the most recognizable business names in the world -- a huge and lucrative operation. Yet to look at the plant -- devoted to producing cigarettes -- is to feel as if you're seeing a painting that is fading right before your eyes.

Cigarette-smoking is under attack from seemingly every corner. The president of the United States has been regularly going after the cigarette makers, accusing them of trying to target America's young people as their future customers. Politicians and state attorneys general have been threatening the companies with a devastating array of potential penalties. Last week Liggett & Myers reportedly agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department's criminal investigation of the tobacco industry. Outside of office buildings all across the U.S., small groups of workers huddle together and smoke -- prohibited from doing it inside.

The drive to stop cigarette-smoking is more intense than it ever has been. Yet no one seems able to come up with an idea to deal with this seemingly unsolvable problem: In a country where smoking was long an accepted part of life, how do you get rid of it?

A reader of this column -- a man named James Lehmann, a regular citizen -- has come up with an idea that, it seems to me, makes more sense than anything that has come out of government or private industry. "I don't think anyone is going to listen to me," he said. "I don't think anyone is going to take it seriously."

But it borders on brilliant. Cigarette-smoking is bad for people -- it makes them sick and kills them. That is accepted as fact now. So what do you do?

Here is Mr. Lehmann's plan, in his words:

"My idea is simple, and it is this:

"Pick a date in the near future. Say, Jan. 1, 1999. It can be any date -- Aug. 12, 1998. Sept. 2, 2002. Pick a date.

"Now, pass a law that says, simply: Anyone born before that date is allowed to smoke. Anyone born after that date is not allowed to smoke. Ever. No matter what.

"Now, consider this:

"One -- You cannot say this law would interfere with a person's right to smoke, because the only people the law would affect are people who are not yet born. And people born after the chosen date would have nothing to complain about because, well, how can you miss something you've never had?

"Two -- Many smokers have difficulty quitting. They say laws that ban smoking in certain areas are unfair because they cannot help that they are addicted. But under this law, the only people who would be banned from smoking would be those born after the chosen date. And since they never will be allowed to smoke, they will never have the opportunity to get addicted to it.

"Three -- Tobacco companies argue that laws such as this are unfair because they outlaw the source of their livelihood. But this law would not even begin to dent the tobacco companies' profits until those born after the chosen date reach smoking age. So tobacco companies would have nearly 20 whole years to find a new source of income. Tobacco company employees would have 20 years to try to find a new job. And even after 20 years, the number of smokers would dwindle at such a slow rate that for a long time no one will even notice it. Certainly this would give them plenty of time to find some other way to make money."

There it is -- a plan from a citizen.

Is it without flaws? Probably not -- no plans ever are.

But when you read all the accounts of the fighting between the government and the tobacco companies, when you read the health reports about tobacco-related illnesses and death, when you look at the potential agreements that are being studied by the tobacco-makers and the politicians, you know that it won't be too long before smoking is clamped down upon even more than it is now.

It's going to happen. The only question is, how to get it done in a way designed to cause the least pain and frustration.

It appears that an everyday citizen may have come up with a plan that's smarter than anything the businessmen and government officials have thought up.

At least that's what it seems like here in the shadow of Philip Morris.

Chicago Tribune