Tobacco is the export that first generated big cash flow for the American colonies. Historically speaking, we owe our early prosperity to it.

That said, it still was viewed as a habit for men, not for women. The “Little Torches of Freedom” public relations campaign in the 1920s persuaded women that it was socially acceptable, and indeed, a sign of their “liberation”, to smoke. Many women rapidly became as addicted as their male counterparts.

It wasn’t until the government began its takeover of the health care system with Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Medicare and Medicaid programs back in the 1960s that government turned against tobacco.

Many government programs are funded with tobacco taxes. What will government do when that source of revenue dries up?