Marx criticized religion as the opiate of the masses-a tranquilizing influence that distracted people from confronting the way the economic system treated them. In modern America, tobacco has come to fill that role for more and more people. It is a very useful addiction for the economy. It does not incapacitate its victims until most of their productive years are behind them. Smoking distracts the assembly line workers from the reality of working conditions while allowing them to meet the production quota.
Tobacco is a winner all around for the marketplace.
In contrast, all of its proceeds become corporate assets and dividends. Thus, tobacco stocks anchor some very lucrative investment strategies. In a remarkably perverse line of argument, some tobacco defenders even suggest that the society should be grateful that tobacco consumers are not leading longer lives and creating a greater strain on social security. These advocates imply that the cancer and heart disease of smokers are boons to the rest of us. It is hard to determine whether this position is more repulsive for the argument it advances or for believing that we would embrace it.