Why McGuinty’s War on Tobacco Will Fail

War has been declared on tobacco smoking -- an economic and social activity that is quickly being stripped of its traditional rights.

The issue of smoking has gone too far thanks to highly-funded zealots who feel no matter what public policy is imposed or accomplishments made, it’s never enough. First, they wanted no smoking in government buildings, in workplaces and on airplanes – that was granted. Now that the Ontario Liberals will create a smoke-free Ontario by May 2006, it makes me wonder where anti-tobacco lobbyists like Michael Perley and Garfield Mahood will go from here?

Premier Dalton McGuinty, Health Minister George Smitherman and the rest of the Liberal caucus want you to believe that smoke-free legislation will curb smoking, keep people out of harm from second-hand smoke and ultimately save lives. If this is the case I question why the Smoke-Free Ontario Act makes no mention of funding for smoking cessation programs – let alone compensation for growers.

The truth of the matter is that provincial and federal governments don’t want Canada’s six million smokers to butt out because of the $8 billion they collect every year from tobacco taxes. And here’s the kicker – even if all of Canada’s tobacco farmers are forced out of the fields, the hand of the state will continue to be greased. Instead of collecting taxes from Ontario-grown product they will collect it from the sale of off-shore tobacco from Brazil, China and India.

While nobody will argue that smoking is good for you, the growing incidence of government interference has convinced many – including top journalists – that the Ontario Liberals are crossing the line.

Linda Williamson stirred up some interesting thoughts in her October 31, 2004, Sunday Sun editorial: “We have a strange conception of individual rights and public health. Raw fish, cigarettes and pitbulls are too risky for Ontarians, but you can sleep on freezing sidewalks and suck back cooking sherry for as long as you please ….”

Parents know that rebellion and resentment result when we attempt to force our children to do something – as adults we are no different.

If the Liberals’ aim of a tobacco war is less smoking, then it is likely to fail. Nobody can be forced to kick the habit – they must want to successfully quit on their own. Many who are forced to quit never do so permanently.

Force does not work – it only exacerbates the problem. Forcing Ontarians to quit smoking is like treating the symptoms without ever remedying the causes. If the health of Ontarians is such a priority perhaps some of the money being doled out to zealots should be redirected to research, and programs addressing the factors that lead people to smoke and what needs to be done for them to quit. The success of the control and information approach has, to date, cut smoking in half.

What Mr. McGuinty and the Liberals fail to realize is that there is a distinction between control and abolition. Health promotion is all about providing information and then allowing the public to voluntarily make decisions or take action.

As crazy as this may sound McGuinty’s new Smoke Free Ontario may turn out to be a stumbling block to serious quitting-smoking efforts. Don’t say we didn’t warn them!