Posted
3/15/2012 03:44:00 PM
by Douglas
The Federal government is spending $54 million of your dollars over the next 12 weeks to get people to quit smoking. This might be a good idea if the tobacco companies weren't spending $27 million a
day to get you to
start.An anti-smoking advocate praised the new effort.
"The campaign is long overdue," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"The scientific evidence is clear that highly charged ads depicting the health effects of smoking are among the most cost-effective ways to reduce tobacco use and reduce the number of kids who start to smoke," he said.
The CDC estimates that because of these ads, 500,000 people will try to stop smoking and about 50,000 will succeed.
That's good and all, and in a perfect work this wouldn't be so silly. But it gets dumber. How much does the Federal government spend each year on growing tobacco? Only $194 million in
2010.