Congratulations Anti-Smoking Crusaders. You Made Smoking Cool Again.

All the laws you had passed by non elected boards, all the millions in taxpayer dollars spent in education programs, posters and commercials have led to one result. For the first time in fifteen years Americans smoked more than they had the year before.

Smoking received a huge boost in the 1950s because it was seen as a "bad boy" habit. James Dean and Humphrey Bogart dangled them from their mouths. "Greasers" rolled packs in their T shirt sleeves in the movies. It was easy to look a little dangerous, just light up a cigarette.

Two percent more Americans smoked in 2008 than in 2007 according to the Center of Disease Control.

The experts call for more funding for anti-tobacco campaigns. Perhaps we need the opposite. Stop making this habit so appealing. Dancing is so much more fun in a Puritan town because it violates the mainstream "rules" of decent behavior. Stop trying to marginalize smokers through laws imposed by boards that should not have such broad powers. Let's try something else.

Stop wasting taxpayer time and money trying to make decisions for adults. Leave smoking alone and let people make their own choices and live with the consequences.