The Cigarette Tax

I just read the article posted here: Cigarette tax and was glad to see it. Then I started reading the comments left by people. No, I didn't read the 279 pages worth but some of them were just....I couldn't believe it. So I posted my response and then realized that with it buried so deep it might never be seen but I feel so strongly about it that I'm posting it here as well. Why am I so passionate about it? I have asthma. It sucks and it isn't as bad as it could be. I hate to think that kids could suffer the same way because their parent's smoke. It's not fair. So here it is:

"Smoking is not only bad for your health it's bad for all of those around you. 2nd-hand smoke is one of the leading causes of lung cancer. Yeah, not the guy smoking the cigarette, it's his wife, children, their friends. It those of us who have to walk out the same doors you spend your time puffing it up outside of. And good grief the stench! I hate getting in the elevator after someone who has just smoked was in it...the whole thing stinks! Luckily I'm only going up 3 floors because I can't hold my breath much longer than that.
If you could smoke yourself to death and never affect other people because of it, more power to you. If you could drink yourself to death and I could guarantee you'd never get behind the wheel with alcohol in your system, I wouldn't care. But this does affect other people. Innocent people. The ones who die are more often those who never smoked or drank. The lives of families are destroyed when none of them did anything wrong. Console yourself however you want but the truth will always be here staring back at you.
I want to be there when you tell your kid dying of lung cancer because they rode in the car with you while you were smoking when they were younger that you're sorry. I want to be there when you look in your grandchildren's eyes and tell them it's your fault their parent is dead. And then I want to see the hate on their faces as you leave the hospital for a smoke."

That's all I have to say about that.