Success against smoking: Your Say

Fifty years ago, a Surgeon General's report concluded tobacco causes lung cancer, launching a public health campaign that has cut smoking rates in half. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:
Nothing ticks me off more than people who try to tell others how to live. Yes, there are health issues related to smoking, but we should have the right to live our lives the way we see fit. Too many people want to force what they consider to be "the right way to live" on others.

• Parliament Aqua Blue

— Colin Yapp
Fewer people smoking is better for them and for all of us. The tobacco industry is still taking action to keep its business alive. Big Tobacco companies will lie to hide the bad effects of their products and try everything to increase the number of people hooked on them.
— Modesto Rodriguez Montes
Raising taxes on tobacco successfully reduces consumption. A high tax may be necessary to achieve that effect, but that would also help the government imposing the tax. There are also follow-on effects from fewer smokers: Fewer lost workdays due to illness and fewer cancer deaths. Tobacco is addictive, but when confronted with higher prices, some will quit, others will moderate their intake and fewer will begin. Very few tax increases merit my support. This one does.
— Marvin McConoughey
Cigarettes are a normal part of living for many Americans. And many people who do smoke are the least financially well off. Taking more money from poor people via a tax on tobacco is not the answer; it just hurts those people on a day-to-day basis.