Obama Smokes - Big F***in' Deal

So it's official. He admitted it in a press conference. The president smokes.

Yes, I criticized him for supporting anti-smoking legislature, calling it hypocrisy. Regardless of that -- so what?? The media is now calling it a "broken campaign promise." Give me a freakin break! It was a promise he made to his wife, not to the American people. And it's a promise every smoker makes to non-smoking loved ones.

I'll say it again: Good for you, Barack! I hope before you decide what to do about Kim Jong Il, you sit down and smoke one all the way to the filter. I also wish you would come out in favor of personal choice, and against the hypocritical war on some drugs.

Let me also say, I loved his flippant comment to a reporter who tried to press him for details about his smoking: "You just think it's neat to ask me about my smoking, as opposed to it being relevant to my new law." [Read: none of your damn business.]

I also have to agree with the LA Times who say that having a smoking habit might be good for his image, as he is seen often as "too perfect." So if he wants to talk about his "struggle to quit," all the better -- makes him more human. I'd still bet you a dollar it's more a struggle to find time, opportunity, and privacy to smoke.

As a smoker, who has quit before, I'll tell you: the last thing any smoker wants or needs -- even if they are trying to quit -- is to be constantly hounded by non-smokers, or worse, reformed smokers. It makes you want to light up right there and blow the smoke right in their face. Quitting smoking, quitting any addictive behavior, is a personal choice and requires support, not mocking admonitions and condescending reminders of how bad it is for you. The last time I quit smoking, and the most successful by a long shot (6 weeks) I didn't tell anyone. I just stopped, slapped on the patch, and if anyone noticed I wasn't smoking, I just said, "Yeah, I'm not smoking any more." No big deal, no big announcement that makes my friends hyper-conscious of it, no added attention. It worked better than 15 years of incessant harping by my grandmother, let me assure you. If people really wanted the president to quit smoking, they should just leave him alone.

Moreover, if Barack Obama wants to smoke, let him smoke. Who freakin cares? It's not a national crisis. Geez.

The War On Some Drugs: Hypocrisy From The White House

Yesterday, April 2, 2009, the House passed a new tobacco bill, giving the FDA sweeping powers to regulate the industry, including the contents of cigarette products, including nicotine. A battle will ensue in the Senate now, with the tobacco lobby as well as the economic lobby of states like North Carolina that have over 10,000 high-paying jobs in the tobacco industry.

According to the New York Times, President Obama "strongly supports the legislation." First of all, President Obama smokes, making such a claim the ultimate hypocrisy. And second, in related news, it is a major campaign promise broken (not to raise taxes "one dime" on anyone making less than a quarter million a year.) I bet you that quarter million he would deny that tobacco taxes have anything to do with personal taxes, but that is precisely what they are. In just 3 weeks here in Florida, cigarette prices have risen nearly $2 a pack. It's the highest sin tax this country has ever seen.

How about we tax the hell out of McDonald's? Coke-a-Cola? How about we tax Guitar Hero? Isn't that rotting the minds of our nation's youth, making them slaves to short attention span media, and ruining their depth perception? I know, how about we start taxing fat people pound-for-pound over their ideal BMI. That's as fair as taxing smokers for personal choice. Talk about pay to play. What I was really hoping to see was Barack Obama saying, "Yep, I smoke. And nope, it's none of your damn business." Instead he fawns and demurs and acts like it's some great mea culpa and feigns guilt. Sure, Barack. When you're sucking down that Newport Light behind a dumpster out of sight of the cameras, I'm sure all you feel is guilt and remorse.

Pill Culture Takes A Hit: Buh-Bye Darvocet!

It appears the FDA may soon ban the use and manufacture of Darvocet (Darvon), which according to the FDA was prescribed as many as 20 million times in 2007, and was one of the earliest prescription pain medicines, beginning circulation through housewives veins in 1957. Davrocet is one of the top 25 most prescribed pain medicines in the US, but is being criticized as largely ineffective in relieving pain, is considered a "combination drug" (meaning it is used in concert with other pills) and brings a high risk of addiction and suicide, according to several studies. With the combined low does of pain relief and the soaring amount of prescriptions for Darvocet, it should be obvious it has entered the ranks of recreational use, or Mommy's Candy. The UK banned their version of Darvon in 2005.

It may be hypocritical of me to project such a condescending approval of this move, considering the amount of marijuana I smoke. However, I see it quite another way. What I see is myself being paranoid and hiding my smoking and treating it like a dirty secret in professional (and even some social) settings, buying "detox teas" and Visine so I can pass hypocritical and invasive tests by employers, and watching as the government consistently treats marijuana as a demon... while my co-workers are walking around in a cotton-headed cloud of euphoria and confusion because of the handful of "legal" drugs they are shoveling down their throats all day long. Government-sponsored drug abuse is chic, but if I want to smoke a joint after a hard day at work and zone out in front of some trash TV, I could end up in court or jail or worse. So, yes, it makes me happy to see some of Mommy's Candy get taken away. This is the real war on drugs.