[quote=Shoryu Magami]
Sure, contributing to taxes is something, but nearly everything does that. I'm sure there's plenty of things the world would be better off without that have sales taxes. 
[/quote]
As I'm waking up and checking the [ @ Mention ] I got, I realize my last sentence wasn't all that clear regarding my meaning.

To put it bluntly, cigarette smoking contributing to sales taxes isn't relevant, because anything that replaces it would [i]also[/i] contribute to sales taxes. Smoking doesn't actually contribute to society itself at all -- all it really does is pollutes the place, makes shit stink (coming from someone who spent the vast majority of his life with a broken nose that considerably hindered his ability to breathe and smell), and creates a lot of really bad addiction problems that significantly cripple society. It's a crutch at its best, but there's far worse things it brings to society too.

[@Vilageidiotx]

I mean, I don't hate [i]smokers[/i] (in the same sense that I don't hate other people who I think are making bad life choices -- its their life, but it's less forgivable when other people are hurt because of it), but I do hate the idea of smoking and all the things that it does to people and to everything around them. The sheer fact that I don't see any actual benefit to it makes all the negative sort of difficult for me to be neutral about.

With that said though, yeah, you're right about the cost being ridiculous, since I know about people who've not only given themselves severe money problems due to the habit, but have also done some pretty bad shit in their lives in order to get their 'fix'. When all is said and done, it's still a [i]drug[/i].

[quote=@Dinh AaronMk]
State governments are supposed to appropriate a minimal amount of funds from tobacco sales taxes per year to cessation/quitting programs but so far only two states even meet the recommended level (North Dakota, Alaska) and one state (Oklahoma) even bothers to meet the half-way mark.[/quote]
Smoking's part of business at the end of the day, and generally speaking corporations and governments aren't interested in doing something that doesn't fill their pockets [i]immediately[/i]. That's the reason why I said previously that it's not 'profitable' in the eyes of the people who can actually make a difference (I meant that in a broad sense, even if the discussion was car pollution at the time). Why would they care about getting rid of smoking in order to benefit society and the economy in the big picture (when less people are being crippled by the habit)? It's not gonna instantly turn them a profit, so they don't care. It's good to know that at least a couple states are using their heads, even if it's not enough to make up for those who aren't.

Anyway, I've got role-play stuff to do, but I figured I'd give my thoughts on some of the new comments.