Smoking Solution

The number of smokers has gone down–fewer than one in five adults now smoke in the US, which is about half as many smokers as there were 50 years ago. Despite this, cigarettes kill more than 400,000 Americans every year. But the solution is at hand: make nicotine less addictive.

Most of us don’t realize it, but the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed in 2009, give the FDA the power to establish tobacco product standards including "provisions, where appropriate, for nicotine yields of the product." The thing they CAN’T do is require that nicotine levels be reduced to zero–but it can reduce them to NONaddictive levels.

And cigarette smoke isn’t just bad for smokers–second hand smoke can produce health risks that persist well beyond childhood.

In the March 4th edition of the New York Times, Richard A. Daynard writes: "Some antismoking advocates who support existing approaches (smoking-cessation programs, higher taxes) fear that pushing for an "end game"–a smoking rate below 10%–is too ambitious. But then, banning smoking in restaurants, workplaces and bars was once seen as crazy, too. Sometimes, a little crazy goes a long way."

A lot of folks think "contactees" are a little crazy, but here at unknowncountry.com, they go a long, LONG way. Come meet other people, just like you (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to these interviews) at our Nashville Symposium in May. To get your tickets, click here. The price includes breakfast Saturday and Sunday and lunch on Saturday.