Gilbert Ross

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Michael R. Hufford & Gilbert Ross | 3 August 2014

Today approximately 14,000 people will die of tobacco-related diseases around the world. The same thing will happen tomorrow and the day after that, leaving nearly 6 million dead in the coming year. Despite this public health disaster, the uncomfortable truth is that mind-altering drugs, from alcohol to nicotine to caffeine, are here to stay. When it comes to smoking, our addiction has proven too much to overcome:

  • too strong at the individual level, by the smoker who will fail 95% of the time in their attempts to quit;
  • too strong at governmental levels, who have grown too dependent on cigarette taxes and Master Settlement transfer payments to responsibly consider public health; and
  • too strong at the societal level, by investors’ addiction to tobacco companies’ profits and their reliable dividends.

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Gilbert Ross | 8 December 2013

Smoking is a leading cause of death, and cessation treatments are largely ineffective, yet regulation threatens a promising new technology that might help smokers quit. 

Anyone with a modicum of knowledge regarding public health will agree that the most important, devastating, and preventable issue facing America is the human toll of cigarettes.