"Cigarettes More Addictive Than Ever"
September 15th / 17th, 2006

Massachusetts is one of only three states to require tobacco companies to submit information about nicotine, and last week, that State's Department of Health released some startling news. Tobacco companies are spiking their cigarettes with more nicotine than ever before.

Overall, nicotine yields are up 10% since 1988, while some brands are up as much as 20%.

Even worse is that all of this has occurred despite passage of Senator McCain's bill which gave the FDA unrestricted control over nicotine.

I'm not one to advocate government interference, but this new study is the last straw.

Either tobacco companies eliminate nicotine from their products, or else the FDA must make cigarettes available by prescription only, so that physicians can prescribe and monitor nicotine intake of their patients. If neither scenario occurs, then big tobacco and big government are both criminally negligent. After all, we know that second hand smoke causes cancer. And now we know that cigarette makers have stepped up their efforts to addict smokers. Logic then dictates that if the FDA fails to control the addictive drug that causes smoking, and smoking kills us, then we should start suing our Congressmen, not just the manufacturers, every time someone dies from the effects of smoking.

I realize that my opinion will alienate a majority of people, but now that it's off my chest, I can breath much easier. Maybe one day so can everyone else.