14 DAY TRIAL // Republican Mitch Greenlick is now drawing significant media attention following his proposing a bill that would make smoking illegal in Oregon.
Thus, smokers living in this state might soon have to choose between giving up on their habit of lighting up a cigarette every once in a while and moving in some other part of the country.
Despite the fact that Mitch Greenlick's decision to sponsor this bill stems from his being very much concerned about how smoking impacts on public health, there are many who claim that such drastic measures are not just uncalled for, but that they also constitute a violation of human rights.
Seeing how making smoking illegal is a rather tricky endeavor, Mitch Greenlick and the other people supporting this bill hope that they might be able to outlaw this nasty habit by labeling cigarettes as a Schedule III controlled substance.
As reported by KPTV, this basically means that cigarettes might soon be listed under the same category as ketamine, lysergic acid and anabolic steroids.
Thus, those wishing to purchase them will only be able to do so after getting a doctor's prescription.
However, one cannot help but wonder what peculiar medical condition could possibly force a doctor's hand into prescribing cigarettes to his/her patients.
Just for the record, should this proposed bill pass, it looks like those who are in the business of marketing smokes should probably figure out a new way of providing for themselves and their families.
This is because both the “crime” of possessing and/or distributing cigarettes could easily translate into prison time (about one year, the bill proposes) and/or a whopping $6,250 fine (about €4,690).
For the time being, almost everybody is quite skeptical about this proposed bill's becoming law. Still, several non-smokers cannot help but hope that Rep. Mitch Greenlick's proposal will get the recognition and approval it deserves.
“I hope it passes and I hope people actually think about it. You know there's less and less smokers everyday because they know how bad it is for them, so I just hope people wake up and realize how bad it actually is for them,” argued Rick Cannon of Salem.