Legislators' actions are hypocritical

I was shocked to hear on the national news that representatives of the tobacco industry have been meeting with congressional and state leaders behind closed doors for the last two weeks to strike a deal regarding future law suits against the tobacco companies. What a moral tragedy that our elected officials would even consider a deal. We are on the brink of showing once and for all that the tobacco giants have intentionally mislead the American people about the true addictiveness of this drug. How dare our elected officials even consider a deal. They should use the legislative powers they possess to ban cigarette advertising aimed at children and not make it part of any deal. Consider the tens of thousands of people slowly dying from emphysema today that would have no recourse once this "deal" is struck. I don't understand the hypocrisy of our state leaders who on the one hand would tell us we didn't know what we were doing when we approved Prop. 200 to allow people access to a drug who may benefit from the effects of it, then blatantly legislate against our wishes, while at the same time consider a deal with an industry that promotes the production and distribution of another drug that has been shown to be the number one killer of Americans.

I just don't get it. Those responsible for hiding the truth about the addictiveness of tobacco are personally responsible for the deaths of many Americans and should be prosecuted criminally. Since when do we make deals with killers?

By Patrick J. Dooley (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 22, 1997