All the arguments about whether the nationwide settlement agreement went far enough helped conceal the true nature of the anti-smoking movement, which is an attempt by one group of people to impose their tastes and preferences on another. Industry double-talk notwithstanding, warnings about the health risks of smoking go back hundreds of years. Persuasive scientific evidence of tobacco's hazards, which began to emerge in the early 1930s, has received widespread attention since the '50s. The tobacco companies concealed the addictiveness of cigarettes. The difficulty of giving up the tobacco habit has been common knowledge for centuries.
People smoke because of advertising.
There is remarkably little evidence that advertising plays an important role in getting people to smoke, as opposed to getting them to smoke a particular brand. Given the complexity of the issue, none is likely to be forthcoming in the forseeable future. None of the widely publicized studies that have appeared in recent years, including the much-hyped research on Joe Camel, actually measured the impact of advertising on a teenager's propensity to smoke. Smoking imposes costs on society. States have a right to demand compensation from tobacco companies for the costs of treating smoking-related diseases under Medicaid.