The Salem News, Estados Unidos, 30 de julio de 2012

July 30, 2012
Our view: Health board overreaches with tobacco ban
The Salem News

Let’s start with this acknowledgement: Cigarettes are bad for you. Tobacco use has been linked to any of a number of diseases, from lung and oral cancer to asthma and emphysema. Secondhand smoke from cigarettes and cigars is toxic, as well. If you smoke, you should stop. If you don’t smoke, don’t start.

That said, cigarettes and other tobacco products are perfectly legal for people over 18, an age where the government figures that we are old enough to make decisions for ourselves. So the recent decision by the Salem Board of Health to ban the sale of tobacco products in city pharmacies is, at best, well-intentioned overreaching.

Dr. Barbara Poremba, chairwoman of the health board, said the panel made the move in part because pharmacies are becoming a more integral part of the health care delivery system, offering flu clinics, vaccinations and other services.

“If pharmacies are to be engaging in health care delivery, it changes the game,” Poremba told reporter Tom Dalton, noting that nearly 40 communities across the state forbid or plan to forbid the sale of tobacco in pharmacies.

Another health board member, Dr. Larissa Lucas, said the ban will eliminate the temptation to smoke for those trying to quit.

“The last thing (customers) need is to be waiting in line to pay for their prescriptions and to be looking up at tobacco ads,” she said.

But where does it end? Go to any one of the seven pharmacies affected by the ban and you will see rows of high-calorie soda, candy and ice cream. Eat too many empty calories, and you run the risk of obesity and its attendant diseases. Is the next step to ban the sale of Dove bars, Doritos and Mountain Dew?

One thinks of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recent proposal to ban the sale of sugar-sweetened soda or sports drinks in a container larger than 16 ounces.

“We’re not taking away anybody’s right to do things,” Bloomberg said in June. “We’re simply forcing you to understand that you have to make the conscious decision to go from one cup to another cup.”

We’re forcing you to understand, the argument goes, because you’re not bright enough to figure it out on your own.

We’ve said it before on these pages, and it bears repeating: In a free society, people must be free to make their own decisions, even when others may disagree with those choices.

Tomado de;

http://www.salemnews.com/opinion/x614300661/Our-view-Health-board-overreaches-with-tobacco-ban