Jacob Sullum has a great observation on the hypocrisy of the "tobacco is addictive" brigade. He notes that the same people who were in the forefront of the fight to declare tobacco is addictive advocate a $2 per pack tax that they now predict will cause 5 million addicts to drop smoking.
In non-libertarian longhand, this is nonsense because addictive substances are highly price insensitive. If you're a true addict, you don't much care how much it costs. You'll do what it takes including turning to a life of crime to get your fix. But smokers, apparently, are a new kind of addict, an addict that responds to incentives just like it was a normal habit. What a sad con. We don't need the attitude that anything is justified as long as it helps get rid of that demon weed. We've had that enough with industrial hemp politics.
Posted by TMLutas at February 4, 2004 04:34 PM