Well Tom, "they" didn't come for the cigaretttes. "They" merely said that you can't smoke them inside public places, at least in California, and that kids can't smoke them at all in any state, as far as I know.

These days, with so many chubby people, some health authorities are growing alarmed, and there will be various efforts, some of them probably misguided, to curb teen addiction to sweets.

The only connection I see between smoking and overindulgance in sweets is that both are harmful to one's health. Society assumes a financial burden which manifests itself in the form of higher taxes because of these vices. It is only natural that health authorities try to counter these trends, cultivate a greater appreciation for fitness, improve the nation's overall health, and thereby reduce spiraling medical costs which we all end up paying for.

There was an article awhile back, I think I posted it here, about a school district in Wisconsin which eliminated most of its ongoing discipline problems when it instituted a healthy meals program and got rid of all the junk food in its schools.

Nevertheless, a lot of our kids still smoke, and a lot of our kids are fat.

I applaud efforts which make it more difficult for our kids to indulge themselves in these harmful activities before they are old enough to contemplate the consequences, and I also approve of legislation which mandates that adults keep their harmful activities to themselves.

sp