It is shocking to report that, after 50 years of awareness of the dangers of smoking and the use of other tobacco products, the tobacco industries are still in decline. Cigarettes and the diseases they cause are still common in our communities, the nation and the world. It is disconcerting that this public health problem is still so persistent. What makes the use of tobacco products so attractive in today's society? Better yet, why does it appear that our political, economic and legal environment continues to foster a robust tobacco industry? Tobacco causes more than half a million premature deaths in America each year. This is more deaths than from HIV, drug and alcohol abuse, car accidents, suicides and homicides combined. For each of these deaths, nearly 20 more Americans suffer from a tobacco-related illness. Tobacco-related diseases represent a huge burden on the healthcare system, with cigarette smoking costing $193 billion and secondhand smoking adding another $10 million. These are all national statistics, except the smoking problem in my hometown of Greenwood,...