Thank God for the Smokers

I am an avid smoker. It isn't something I am proud of, or would shout from the top of a mountain. I wouldn't call my 10 closest relatives and brag, asking them each to call 10 other relatives, or so on and so forth. It is something I have done for the past 23 years, and REALLY need to put behind me, but as many smokers out there know, is a very hard thing to do. If it were really that easy, it would have been done 20 years ago, instead of continuing on to this day. Those who DON'T smoke, that think this is ludicrous, you are not smokers and don't really understand the broad perspective of what it encompasses.

I get up in the morning, I want one. After I get done eating, I want one. When I get in the car to go anywhere.... You guessed it, one gets sparked up. Before and after work, during break (well, WHEN I was working...), when walking the dog, relaxing in the hot tub, during sporting events (which sporting events bring up a whole new spectrum, as I also drink a cold one or few during the big games, which make you smoke more). I average about a pack a day, 20 for those who are oblivious to the amount in each pack.

So here are the numbers.

My dear old sister gave me my first smoke when I was 13, and on an estimation, I would say approximately May of 1986. That boils down to 8,502 days. At about a pack a day would be 170,040 cigarettes that I have smoked in my life. Yes, now you are beginning to understand why that mountain overpass is not such a good place to proclaim my achievement. They say for each smoke you DON'T have, you save about 7 minutes of your live. So i have literally cheated myself out of 1,190,280 minutes of my life, which converts to about 2.25 years. And I wonder where the time goes...

So, as I continue to chip away at the minutes of my life, the cost of these little suckers continuously rise. Not due to increase in cost to produce. Not due to supply and demand. Phillip Morris has enough people on a string that they wont have to worry about NOT being able to produce them anymore. The answer is due to continuous taxation by the government.

Land of the free... Tell me at this point, what, exactly, IS truly free? The government has taken the liberty (no pun intended) to tell me I can't smoke in public places any more, due to non-smokers having to be around and inhale what I have chosen to pollute myself with. I have absolutely no complaints about that. It's a bum deal, yes, but I can understand the point of view about it being a health factor for those who choose not to. My grandmother on my mom's side was not a smoker, but died of lung cancer due to inhaling second hand smoke from my grandfather. But to continuously raise the prices by taxing? Where is the line? We have gone to a stage of the government trying to dictate and make this a smoke-free nation.

I remember growing up in New England, as a teenager, scrounging up $1.75-2.00 to go to the corner store to buy a pack. Now when I go back to visit my family, i pay over $7.00 for that same size pack. Here in TN, they are currently still around $4.50-$5.15 since the new 2009 cig tax hike. I haven't been out to visit my folks since the increase, but am scared to, thinking the cost of a pack out there alone would probably cap them over $8.00/pack. So the question arises, exactly what does all this "added extra funding" go to...

In Tennessee, "GOP leaders, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey of Blountville and House Republican Leader Jason Mumpower of Bristol, said they are taking issue with a House Democratic Caucus plan to give all lawmakers a cash lump sum to spend on local projects in their districts"(Hank Hayes, Timesnews.net). The tax was incited as a means to deter teens and children from buying cigarettes. Now, we are all carded when we buy them, what is the sense of the tax, if all store owners, by law, are doing their jobs? What about those that are of LEGAL AGE and buying them? The house was in argument of whether to spend the surplus created to fund local projects, development, highways and roads, etc, or to spend it on basic education. There was also talk of using it to offset a possible decrease in the current Tennessee food tax.

And all this is in Tennessee in addition to the federal tax that was enacted on April 1, of this year, which was put in place to raise funds for the State Children's Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP), signed by Pres. Obama. This program raises funds for children of families less fortunate, assisting in medical coverage. Fine and dandy, but why are the smokers liable for funding areas shared by ALL people and not just used by smokers only? Better yet, why will we increase a smokers tax and decrease non-smokers taxes? And to top all, the worst case scenario... What if all smokers decided to quit all at the same time?

So if you are reading this, and you are a non-smoker, and you do have state-funded insurance for your child, and you are driving on better roads in Tennessee, seeing better sites, city improvements... You really should think about stopping and kissing a smoker... Even if he/she DOES smell like an ashtray.