STAFF EDIT: Addiction affliction

As an offshoot of the ongoing lawsuit filed by two Massachusetts smokers, a federal suit aims to cover smokers over 50 years of age who have smoked a pack of Marlboro cigarettes a day for the past 20 years. If the suit is favored in the court, the Philip Morris company would be forced to subsidize chest exams for smokers to diagnose early-stage lung cancer. Though it would be nice to stick this responsibility to the manufacturers of cigarettes, and while it’s never a bad idea to be diligent about cancer detection, the matter comes down to one very obvious fact: smoking is not compulsory.

This development recalls the study reported by The Daily Free Press in September regarding the health benefits that would result from a public smoking ban. There are lots of ways to take the pressure off of smokers to mitigate the stigma they face for doing something that purposely harms their bodies ‘- the manufacturers can be punished, or legislation can be passed to keep people from smoking or millions of public dollars a year can be spent on anti-smoking propaganda. But so long as smokers smoke, they’re the only ones who should be held responsible for themselves.

Philip Morris may produce and advertise the carcinogenic products, but that is where the company’s responsibility begins and ends. Additionally, anti-smoking campaigns and prevention curricula in schools are both extremely prevalent in daily American culture, starting at a very young age. Smokers who ignore the warnings ‘- which are even printed on the very packs from which they smoke ‘- have no one to blame but themselves if any negative side effects occur. Filing a lawsuit against the company whose products one buys knowing full well that that product is known to cause fatal illnesses is just an example of how laughably litigious this nation’s consumers have become.

Americans are quick to sue whomever they believe is behind the products and activities that put them in uncomfortable positions. It’s easy to take money from giant corporations with bad reputations, and then play the victim of the capitalist monster. But this is a backward practice that only corroborates claims that Americans are indulgent and greedy ‘- and eager to blame anyone but themselves. But it’s time to stop wasting the resources of the courts and ask that American smokers, fast food consumers and general bad habit-holders take responsibility for their own actions and get themselves out of the problems they willingly get themselves into. Money won’t cure cancer or heart disease, and it certainly can’t pay for this country to start making smarter decisions.