Bill proposed in Oregon would make cigarettes prescription-only drugs

[Swede Atlanta]

14. I applaud the effort to raise awareness of how harmful the substances in cigarettes are....

but I don't want them to be RX-material only. I do want good, effective health education and public awareness campaigns that drive home the dangers and long-term effects of smoking not only on the smoker but those around them.

My mother was in nurses training during WWII. She began to gain weight as the diet consisted overwhelmingly of starches (potatoes, rice, etc.) and few healthy vegetables, fruits and lean protein. She went to her doctor and he recommended she START SMOKING to help with her weight.

She became a chain smoker. I suffered the years of my childhood and adolescence with a house, car, clothes and my person smelling of cigarettes. Every couple of years we would wash the walls of the house and you would see the yellow nicotine run down the walls.

Once I got out on my own and she came to visit I kindly told her she would not be able to smoke in my apartment but must step outside. The rest of the family thought I was a bit harsh but I certainly did not. She was in my home (I recall the old statement - "as long as you are in my house you will follow my rules&quot . Neither myself nor my roommate smoked. We didn't want our furniture, walls, clothing and persons permeated with smoke. I was respectful but firm.

Interesting I worked for Northwest Airlines when they were the first airline to ban smoking on domestic flights (international took much longer since they served the Asian market which had many many smokers). We received calls from passengers telling us we would go out of business, that they would never fly us again, etc. Of course that is now the policy of almost all world airlines of any significance. Something else I found interesting was the policy raised concerns among the line maintenance staff. They had for years used visual evidence of nicotine on the fuselage as an indication of a possible problem with a rivet or other structural element. They had literally looked for the yellow stains on the outside of the airplane to find structural cracks. etc. Now of course they use x-rays and other methods but it was ironic.

I don't mind smokers as long as they are courteous. My biggest problem is not so much with smokers that smoke where they shouldn't. There are always a few times when you smell the smoke as you enter your office building, etc. because someone is too close to the door or you can smell it on the clothing of someone in the elevator. My biggest issues are the public health costs and the arrogance of smokers that continue to flick their ashes everywhere and dump not only their cigarette butts on streets, sidewalks, yards, etc. but even their lighters and cigarette packages. For those offenses I want the immediate death penalty (sarcasm). But seriously it is a real problem where I live.