Tobacco Warfare In America: An Overview

Abstract

There can be no doubt that tobacco has become an object of civil warfare in the United States over the past 20 years or so. Smokers and nonsmokers have been waging pitched battles on many fronts throughout the land. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop articulated a vision of a “smoke-free America,” where if any smoking at all were to take place it would be in the privacy of smokers’ homes and only in the company of other smokers. Perhaps inspired by this vision, a Hawaii State Senator introduced, in February 1990, legislation that would have banned the sale of tobacco products throughout Hawaii. While this proposal failed to be enacted, its mere introduction into Hawaii’s legislative process surely attests to the ferocity with which the Great American Tobacco War is being waged. Indeed, there are several universities, including West Virginia University and Texas A&M University, that have banned all smoking on campus.