Adult Smoking Increases

Re “Adult Smoking Rises Sharply in California,” March 26: Tobacco companies may be losing in the courts but in California they are winning on the streets. The increase in smokers means the image created by tobacco companies has overcome anti-smoking efforts aimed at children.

Children are the key, and what they see on TV and in the movies is that smokers are macho, dangerous and heroic. As long as this illusion persists we cannot win. A ban on smoking must be placed in the movies themselves and on TV. We must stop the insidious portrayal of smoking as good, fostered by the entertainment industry with the backing of tobacco interests, and save our children from a lifetime of suffering.

DANIEL MATONAK

Canoga Park

* Your March 27 editorial, “Blue Haze Over California,” says that a smoking increase among adults might justify a cigarette tax hike. Yet, in your last paragraph you state that as the price of cigarettes goes up, the number of new smokers--especially teenagers--tends to decline. What you do not seem to realize is the fact that a great number of smokers are senior citizens, many on fixed incomes, who happen to enjoy the pleasures of smoking. They are the ones who will hurt the most.

And don’t blame the diversion of ad campaign funds for real medical services for the rise in smoking. It is because of these campaigns that kids smoke more, because it is the “forbidden fruit syndrome” that makes them defy rules and regulations. It is a real shame that another $22 million will be wasted, instead of using this money for medical care.

OTTO J. MUEKSCH

North Hollywood