Tobacco Industry Finally Brought to Heel?

Bipartisan lawmakers are set to introduce a bill that would bring tobacco under the control of the FDA. This is a huge step from just a couple decades earlier when tobacco threw its weight around as it pleased, openly bribing legislators and targeting children. It's about time an industry that kills hundreds of thousands and costs the country billions in healthcare each year is held to standards and regulations.

I support a person's right to smoke. I take issue with the fact that the industry wielded so much power and clout over our government for so long that it was only recently that state and local governments have been successful at passing measures designed to limit second-hand smoke. For years, in spite of scientific research proving its health effects, non-smokers were forced to breath smoke in public places because essentially the smoker's rights were more important than the non-smoker's. I should be able to go into an enclosed public space anywhere in the country and not be subjected to someone imposing his or her deadly habit on me. It's hard to believe there was a time when one could smoke on planes or at work.

What's more, I often wonder how different our attitudes to marijuana might be if the histories of tobacco and marijuana were similar. In other words, if marijuana cultivation started out in colonial America and grew into a multi-billion dollar business with scores of lobbyists, would marijuana be legal and commonplace? I understand there are negative side effects to smoking weed, but none worse than the effects of smoking and drinking, yet those two are perfectly legal. I've never tried it, so this isn't meant to promote marijuana use. Just musing.