Honorable Councilmembers:

The War on Tobacco has done more harm than Big Tobacco has done in its history. No, I don't work for a tobacco company; I don't even smoke. But I can see clearly what has happened to my family and friends who do.

Arthur Caplan, Director, Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania, said: "The demonization of smokers ... has transformed what was once a bad habit into an outright sin."  To do that, anti-smoker activists have become a cult--a cult of public health. And like all cults, they brook no opposition. In their view all rights are on their side and they feel righteously justified in stripping the rights from those who don't agree with them.

 You say you can't allow "accommodation," because that's what Big Tobacco wants. What difference does it make who wants it? Looking at the issue as an outsider, I can't see the difference between the well-funded desires of Big Tobacco and the well-funded desires of Big Anti-Tobacco. Neither speaks for the will of the people.

Use your common sense and look beyond the struggle between the purveyors of nicotine delivery devices in the form of cigarettes, cigars and pipes, and the purveyors of nicotine delivery devices in the form of patches, gums and inhalers. What you'll see is that one in four Americans--your friends, co-workers, family--choose to do something a vocal, well-paid group of zealots dislike and they are being disenfranchised because of it.

Thank you.