Letter: Controlling behavior is a slippery slope

Friday, Feb. 24, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

After reading the Las Vegas Sun's Feb. 18 editorial, "Inhale smoke, exhale dollars," wherein the editorial supported a $50 corporate surcharge on health insurance for a company's smoking employees, I had to reply. Micromanagement of the private lives of others has become an obsession in much of the country. Please do not promote it here in Nevada.

Let's face it - smokers are an easy target. They have been vilified by every do-gooder sitting in a legislative capacity for the past 10 or so years. Editorial staffs have marched in lockstep knowing the attack is a popular one, hence a safe one. And for smokers, we can no longer walk the beaches of Northern California, be within 20 feet of a storefront door, or imbibe our habit within eyeshot of those who despise our existence.

But let's take your arguments to the logical extreme. Its flaws are apparent. Drinking alcohol damages nearly every organ of the body and presents a high risk of cancer to the pancreas, kidneys, stomach, breast, cervix, liver and esophagus. It can cause delusions, depression and suicide. Pregnant woman are advised to immediately quit to prevent birth defects. Sound familiar?

How about this one? Cheeseburgers (obesity) can present a high risk of cancer to the pancreas, stomach, colon, kidneys and liver. Gambling can cause depression, suicide, familial breakdown and bankruptcy. Get the point? All of these behaviors cost society countless billions of dollars.

So stop the pretense. It has nothing to do with cost to society and everything to do with your desire to control an unpopular behavior. Be careful, much of what we do in Nevada is unpopular in the rest of the country. And they, like you, cannot wait to control, particularly through taxation.

Lance Weil, Las Vegas