Battling big tobacco from the top down

This is innovative. A new book suggests a novel approach to treating the problems associated with that legal herbal drug, tobacco cigarettes. The authors point out that attacking the problem from the demand side has not worked and the tobacco companies are more beholden to their shareholders in making profits than they are to the public health, thus effectively negating efforts to encourage smokers to quit the habit.

They suggest the government simply buy out the tobacco corporations and then work towards putting themselves out of business. It could just work, that is unless the government then became addicted to the profits.

[hat tip to Tim Meehan]