ESSAYS & ARTICLES

These articles illustrate the philosophy and the reasons for the smoker's rights movement, and provide an insight into the spirit of FORCES Canada.

We encourage anyone in possession of, or willing to write good articles and essays to send them to us for publication.

Smoking And Its Enemies: A Short History Of 500 Years Of The Use And Prohibition Of Tobacco - by Sean Gabb - A beautiful essay coming to us from Forest in Great Britain, on the history of tobacco prohibiton. The repression on tobacco is not new. It has happened many times before...for repression itself is as old as man.

Savoring The Rapture - By Kathryn Leger, Montreal Bureau Chief of The Financial Post. We link to the Canoe website for this report on cigars as an upscale luxury of the nineties in Canada's major cities. Connoisseurs are paying up to $69 per cigar for a smoke with the lore and allure of fine wine.

Fit Smokers Live Longer Than Lazy Nonsmokers - A cautionary note for rabidly anitismoking couch potatoes -- maybe it's time to start an expensive shame-game campaign against you! We link to the pages of the Tri-City Herald in Washington State for an Associated Press report that reveals some interesting statistics.

Canada'a Taxing Pols Outwitted By Underground Economy - by Pierre Lemieux - When cigarette (and alcohol) taxes go sky-high, the result is smuggling, as Canadians learned a couple of years ago. Quebec economist, teacher and author Pierre Lemieux explores this phenomenon in a piece originally published in The Wall Street Journal in 1994. At the height of the high-tax experiment, he notes, 40 per cent of cigarettes consumed in Canada were from the back market. We link to the home page of Pierre Lemieux

The Chemical Inquisition - by Robert H. Nelson - The drug policies of the United States are the product of a Puritan religious heritage that is still alive and well -- and producing disastrous public policy, says this author. We link to the pages of Inside Liberty magazine for this critique of those who would "save us from our fallen selves."

Dining With Bureaucrats - Guess who's coming to dinner? The City of Vancouver antismoking police, that's who -- and the're not here to sample the entrees. - By Anne Mac Diarmid

What If The Most Dangerous Addiction Is Dependence On Government? - We link with Vin Suprynowicz, Libertarian columnist. Vin is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Yet another voice condemning "Big Brother" interference in citizens' life and choices, including the choice to smoke.

The Historical Origins Of Health Fascism - Dr. Stephen Davies is scrupulous in demonstrating the origins of health fascism in his treatment of two separate medical controversies which occurred in England. His short study of compulsory vaccination and eugenics is relevant to the anti-smoking movement in several key aspects, notably the process by which education on a health issue quickly turns into coercion and persecution when people don't heed the advise of their betters. Dr. Davies reveals the inherent elitism behind the compulsion employed in the past as well as the compulsion surfacing today.

On The Docket: Where There's Smoke, There's Lawyers - What's behind those state lawsuits against the tobacco industry? You guessed it. Trial lawyers. If you are among the poor fools who believe that lawsuits against tobacco companies will benefit the so-called "victims", read this, and see how the only winners are the trial lawyers, even when they lose! - By Susan Adams. We link to FORBES Magazine.

The Shame Of The Antismoking Industry Scam - Discover the enormous U.S. machine behind the antismokers industry. Look at the colossal dollars involved. Understand why there is so much interest in keeping up the smokers' persecution, and the motivation behind the lies about secondhand smoke. See how it affects Canada. Documentation obtained through the U.S Freedoom Of Information Act explains it all. We have described earlier the antismokers industry as a cancer without morality. Now we can quantify why.

Civil Disobedience Now! - December 1st, 1996: the Vancouver antismokers by-law comes into effect. The most recent attack to the freedom of choice of Vancover's smokers comes into effect at midnight today. Now is the test of fire. Will the Vancover's smokers and restaurant owners knuckle under once again? Will the local government claim another victory over liberty? FORCES Canada invites the restaurants and their patrons to break the law, in the name of personal rights. Do we have what it takes? - A statement by Gian Turci, president of FORCES Canada

Cyberspace Addiction: Why Not? - A short article of the latest and greates form of "addiction": cyberspace, now blamed for broken families and other calamities, and already the centre of "studies". Is the grant gravy train beginning to slow down to stop at this station as well? Will we ever grow up? -- By Gian Turci

Pub Owner Champions Smokers' Rights - A short interview with Dianne Davies, owner of the Highwayman Pub in Abbotsford, British Columbia. "Fight back! It's a matter of speaking up. The people out there who want to smoke in public places have to take the initiative and really do it." ...Well said Dianne! We hope that many more will find the strenght to voice their opinion, and join the fight for liberties.

FORCES CANADA: four months of smashing activity -- now off for this years - 1996 year end message from Gian Turci, President of FORCES Canada.

Smokers: The Cost To Society? - An article from Raymond Sasso, president of FORCES U.S.A. on the real "cost" of smokers to society. Since the Canadian government borrows statistical figures from the U.S.A. anyway (and reduces them by a factor of 10 to accommodate for the population difference), we may as well look at the US ones, and divide by 10! Then, God knows how many times we still have to reduce them to accommodate for manupulation... will we ever get to the truth?

Letter To Science Magazine - This letter, written by Rosalind B. Marimont, a retired mathematician and scientist, is criticizing so-called "scientific" reporting with respect to the smoking issue, and the views of certain scientists as published in Science Magazine. Rosalind fights the dishonest war on smoking which has corrupted scientific research and gravely disorted the nation's health priorities.

Good Housekeeping: Bad Journalism - In its November issue, The Good Housekeeping magazine has launched a ferocious attack against smokers, and secondhand smoke. For self-defining "The magazine that America trusts", we can honestly say that we have never before seen so much B.S. in a single nine-page piece. We publish a summary of the article, and the responses of Martha Perske and Gian Turci, president of FORCES Canada.

Smoking Foes No Match for Cigarettes' Universal Appeal - A student's point of view on the universal appeal of cigarettes and tobacco, confirming once again what we knew all along: SMOKING IS COOL!

The Critique of Health Scares and State Paternalism - This powerful article from England, written by Chris R. Tame and David Botsford, wonderfully describing the tremendous danger of the "health scare" movement and its mental and political dynamics. It contemplates the corruption of media, data and science to create a lucrative, self-perpetuating loop that ensures profits and control, as well as loss of liberty and spontaneity. This is also the closing article of the book "Not Just Tobacco"

Tobacco On Trial - ... The urge to blame someone else for a sorrow you have brought upon yourself is human, but it is irresponsible. It should not be indulged. When their choices do not harm other people, adults must choose for themselves; and, enjoying this choice, they must face its consequences. - From The Economist

The Facts About a New Study on Tobacco and Lung Cancer - Wanda Hamilton of The Sun Network writes a short article to put in perspective the "new" study linking Benzo[a]Pyrene ("smoking") to lung cancer.

How to Get Physicians Interested in Junk Science - Interesting comments about junk science, ETS, and politically correct physicians. - By Steven Millroy.

Family History and Lung Cancer - A new lung cancer study published by the American Journal of Epidemiology raises questions about earlier work on
lung cancer and second-hand smoke. - By Steven Milloy.

Puffers Plight Is No Business To Delve Into - Should high schools ban student "smoke pits"? Community newspaper columnist Chris Foulds comments. Courtesy of the Abbotsford News.

When they came for smokers... - A former smoker describes how he has become a "political smoker" in reaction to the New Puritanism. - By L. Neil Smith

In the trenches of the municipal tobacco wars. Smoking Out The Health Nazis - A first-hand report on the public scuffle in Toronto over the city's tobacco ban. In an article published in June, Peter Kuitenbrouwer shows how spirited business owners are giving the health paternalists a run for their money. From Eye Weekly, Toronto's Arts Newspaper (http://www.eye.net).

The Blunders of SAMMEC - 400,000 Killed by Smoking!? A former U.S. government mathematician and scientist charges that scientific blunders and a lack of integrity have allowed the anti-smoking lobby to abuse science for political ends. Does smoking cause 400,000 deaths annually? Read on... - By Rosalind B. Marimont

City Hall "Parents" Practice Tough Love in Toronto and Vancouver - The health paternalists of two major Canadian cities are using different strategies to gain public acceptance for their smoking bans. Although Toronto seems to have backed off, it may just be intending to kill its opponents with kindness. - By Anne MacDiarmid

Is Violence Against Smokers Being Condoned By Anti-Smoking Organizations? - A poignant article/press release issued by Raymond Sasso, president of FORCES U.S.A. on the issue of violence against smokers. With the persecutorial and irresponsible anti-smoking posture of the provincial and federal government, violence against smokers could escalate in Canada as well.

Diary of a Smoking Trip - Travelling impressions from a recent trip to Europe by Gian Turci, President of FORCES Canada

A Nation Of Meddlers - Wonderful article about the social phenomenon of anti-everything - By Prof. Charles Edgley and Prof. Dennis Brisset

Hygiene, Health, Genocide, Kids, and the Digital Revolution - by Dennis Quinn, Ph. D. - Examines how "data-dredging" has been used to spawn an epidemic of public health concerns.

Open Letter to the Tobacco Companies - by Gian Turci, president of FORCES Canada. Publicly challenging the tobacco companies to put an end to the persecution of their only customers - the smokers. They certainly have the power. Do they have the balls?

The Epitome of Stupidity - Another demonstration of the Canadian government's stupidity, and hypocrisy. The persecution of smokers does not stop even at the arctic circle! Natives are forced to smoke outside in polar temperatures to "protect their health", never mind the disgusting neglect of the state about their social condition.

You should be ASHamed! - The shameful, hate-filled propaganda of the U.S.-based ASH Organization. A time capsule for Canada and the rest of the world, illustrating what will happen if the government-backed hate campaign is not stopped.

Smoking and Liberty - An excellent essay written by Pierre Lemieux of Montreal, Quebec. The smoking issue is not just one issue as the anti-smoking industry would lead you to believe, but three separate issues. Mr. Lemieux so eloquently uncovers the lies they put out as truths and exposes the dangers of state control to personal liberties and choice. The media may be silent on the side of choice, but private citizens are not going to be silenced on this issue! Note: we are linking to Pierre Lemieux's home page. If you wish to stay with us, click the "back" button of your browser when you are done.

In Defense of Smoking - by Otto J. Mueksch, Vice President of the Californians for Smoker's Rights organization.

Pandora's Box: the Dangers of Politically Corrupted Science for Democratic Public Policy - by Dr. John C. Luik, a nonsmoker, Senior Associate of the Niagara Institute.

We Already Knew The Smoking Secret - by Brad Rodu

Leave Smokers Alone -- It's Their Choice - An excellent editorial by Barbara Simpson in the San Francisco Examiner on the issue of smoking and choice. Take notice, this was written by an ex-smoker who feels it was her choice to start and her choice to stop. She writes candidly and is right on target! Note: we are linking to The San Francisco Examiner. If you wish to stay with us, click the "back" button of your browser when you are done.

Why the Anti-smoking Industry Uses "Children" to Further Their Political Agenda - Raymond Sasso, president of FORCES (USA), gets article published nationwide. Here is the unedited and full version of that article. Read it in its entirety.

Moral Statistician - An interesting and important comment from a distinguished writer. You will be surprised at who (and when) this statement was issued. Timeless and provocative!

Teenage Smoking Like Walking Corpses - This is just one headline (the tune is all too common) typical of the cheap, alarmist kind of messages sent by the media (local or national) on the issue of teenage smoking. Of course, the real issue is cleanly missed! Reflections by Gian Turci.