Dear PV,

I'm an ex-smoker (no cigarettes since 1963; no pipe since about 1976) so I have no great love for smoking. (It made the last few years of my father's life very unpleasant). But I've about had it up to here with the politically motivated, do-gooder approach of many politicians.

I must admit that second hand smoke can be annoying, but I lived with 18 years of second hand smoke in the home ( and nearly 20 years in the Army, before it went out-of-style) and 10+ years of first hand smoke with no ill effects. So did my brother and sister and my mother, I might add. This was in the home and not in some venue where I might be an occasional visitor/patron. At the least we ought to permit property owners (note, "owners") determine whether they want to allow smoking on premisis.

You are right-on regarding the smoking issue and taxes. Politicians, of all persuasions, denigrate the smoker but depend on his taxes to support their habit (spending other people's money to look good and buy votes). In fact, I think that smoking might be considered the patriotic thing to do.

If smoking is so bad why don't we ban the growth, importation, distribution, sale and consumption of the vile weed in the United States?

Ed Watkins
Lilburn, Georgia