Cigarette Advertising and the Right to Free Speech

One leader of the tobacco industry has made his ultimate ignorance public., I find it hard to believe that Guy L. Smith IV, a corporate executive and presumably a somewhat educated man, has the gall to link the moral imperative of cigarette smoking with the historical significance of such figures as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Susan B. Anthony, or Martin Luther King.

One has only to look at the difference in presentation between the cigarette industry and anti-cigarette-advertising groups such as the American Medical Association to be able to decide which side is correct. Or maybe Mr. Smith believes that the right to kill oneself without one’s own consent is clearly protected by the Constitution. It just may be possible that the necessity to maintain public health may outweigh hick corporate interests.

JOSEPH M. VINETZ

San Diego