Once again I'd like to point out that the government is incapable of making broad reaching decisions that affect the lives of individuals.  Today's sample is this study that has shown that smoking may significantly reduce your risk of getting Parkinson's Disease:

"Although we found that current smokers and those who had continued to smoke to within five years of Parkinson's disease diagnosis exhibited the lowest risk, a decrease in risk (13 percent to 32 percent) was also observed in those who had quit smoking up to 25 years prior to Parkinson's disease diagnosis," it said.

"Other tobacco products also appeared to be protective. Men who smoked pipes or cigars had a 54 percent lower risk. The number of chewing tobacco users was small, but there was a suggestion of reduced risk associated with this product," it added.

Of course it may also give you cancer.  Then again, nicotine makes you feel good.  But this just goes to show that every decision in life has positive and negative trade offs.  Those trade offs are something that each individual should be able to weigh and consider for themselves.  For instance, if a person has a family history of Parkinson's Disease, perhaps smoking would be in that person's best interest.  In fact, maybe we should pass a law allowing them to smoke in restaurants and at work.  We can call it medical tobacco!

Via Nobody's Business.