Aaron Okin Columnist

Yesterday morning, the day that a significant court case was set to begin, the only print reports that my search yielded were two pieces in the Christian Science Monitor and an Associated Press article.

It's fairly unbelievable that coverage of the United States government suing the tobacco industry did not receive more attention on the day of its kick-off, especially when the tobacco companies are being taken to court for $280 million, the biggest civil case in U.S. history as far as punitive damages go. Frankly, the lack of coverage is kind of disappointing.

Even more disappointing, though, is that the tobacco companies are once again forced to go through a lengthy and expensive process of legal preparation and litigation to fight off government action against their business, and this is all due to a severe lack of individual responsibility.

It's true - there were not always anti-tobacco campaigns and, in fact, there were active advertisements encouraging smoking. Smoking is an addictive habit, too, but that has not stopped many people from breaking themselves of it after years of dependence. In spite of this, the tobacco industry as a whole is poised to be kicked down, again, by government lawyers who will argue that the companies are responsible for the poor choices of millions of Americans.

In 1998, the same companies were pressured into a settlement with dozens of attorneys general from various U.S. states that cost them $246 million and an end to business as they knew it. While the tobacco industry still continues to distribute and sell its goods at a price that, while heavily taxed and expensive, are not entirely cost-prohibitive, it is also forced to distribute anti-tobacco items and throw millions into anti-smoking programs all over the country. The companies have been crippled before, and now the government is back to do it again.

For more than five years, public service announcements have been splashed across any media outlet that may have young people exposed to it, with the tobacco companies footing the bill. New regulations and additional taxes have also acted as challenges for the industry to overcome.

In these cases, which are purportedly filed based on the suffering of many victims the victims are inexplicably not held accountable for any of their decisions. The case in the 1990s was based on the tobacco companies marketing and selling a dangerous product, and today the companies are being brought up on charges of racketeering.

The core problem with this case is that the government is acting on a premise that says that the tobacco companies lied in order to get people hooked on their product, leaving smokers hopelessly addicted and without a way out.

Perhaps the government would have a case if they were dealing with adults who smoked frequently before 1966, when health warnings first made their appearance on packs of cigarettes, but they aren't dealing only with such people-in fact, they're acting to strip the companies of these funds by calculating the damages according to how much a person under 21 would spend daily if they consume 5 cigarettes, and then adding the amount they think the companies profited from by receiving that initial revenue.

Once it becomes clear that there is a great risk, so much so that warning labels are placed on the product indicating that their use can cause harm, the company ceases to be responsible for the choices that their consumers make once the companies notify them of the potential for harm. Those who elect to quit will quit and those that choose to continue on with smoking will continue on, but it should be not incumbent, especially in a market economy, on the cigarette manufacturers to undermine their own business, but that is effectively what they have been forced to do since settling their suit in 1998.

All over the place people are smoking, and they do it with the full knowledge that they are causing harm to their health, just like people who drink too much alcohol, become hooked on caffeine or eat too much fast food and become obese.

If there is a legal market for something, despite its harm, and supposedly rational people decide to take the negative course of action there should be no recourse in the legal system for them. Really, it's time to grow up and take personal responsibility for one's actions, and while the Department of Justice is not acting directly on the behalf of victims, it's time to give tobacco a rest. They're still paying for their perceived past sins that were settled upon in 1998, and there's no need to keep campaigning against them for past actions that were supposedly settled in the last case.

Aaron Okin is a regional development and political science senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.