The American Cancer Society (ACA) is playing with fire. The cocaine and heroin markets are worth US$100 billion, tobacco is worth $500 billion. If you look at the way class A narcotics have undermined societies, for example in the UK 2/3 burglaries are put down to heroin users, corrupted governments like Columbia and Mexico and you want an industry 5 times as big to be placed in criminal hands?

You talk about raising taxes, like they have done in Ireland for example and again smuggling becomes rife. A pack costs nearly $10 and  recently a consignment of 120,000 cigarettes were intercepted and the organisers were the Real IRA. They are  a terrorist group who recently have murdered a policeman and soldier. I only buy my tobacco on the black market.

Your template for this is American prohibition, the rise of the Mafia, Speak Easys and corruption to the highest levels of society. No wonder the act was repealed.

While I accept that in the west smokers live 7 years less than non smokers it is unlikely that is the case in the developing world. For example Zimbabwe the average age of death is now 36, mostly because of Mugabe's incompetent rule and AIDS, and over 50% of 3rd world deaths can be traced to unsanitary water, not a puff on a Marlboro.

The ACS will lead world into a new Dark Age of crime and anarchy and the quicker they accept you cannot disinvent tobacco like any other drug, alcohol has been around for 9,000 years the better. The tobacco companies in 1968-1979 were engaged with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to produce safer cigarettes. The American Surgeon General, Everett Coop cancelled the project predicting a completely "smoke free America by 2000." With meddling from groups like the ACS, well intentioned or not, how many much more damage will they do smokers and society?

Disclaimer: I work for a smokers rights group in the UK.