SOMETIMES IT seems like
a scene out of a science-fic-
tion ntovie, a blend cf the
neon gothic horror of ;
Bladerunner and the
Orwellian hopelessness of
1984, with a script by Ray
Bradbury or Richard
Matheson.

There they are, all across
Canada, clustered together in
foyers and on the front steps of
office buildings, in rain and snow,

"blocking the entrances to revolv-
-ing doors, their cyes avoiding con-

. tact, chained by anti-littering laws
to the vicinity ofan outside
ashtray: poor pathetic junkie
wretches, puffing on their smokes.

’ If one was, indeed, shooting a
bleak sci-fi docu-dr.ama about a

_ totalitariaw future world, one
would have to go no further than
the nearest workplace where the
walls are adorned with the red- *,

.: Circle-and-slash over a drawing of
a cigarette, indicating that it is
verboten to smoke.

Big Brother has spoken, and in
the best tradition of Newspeak, he
has spoken as our friend. He is

here to help us. ; ne
., But to really bring the
nightmare into focus, one would
take one’s cameras to the nearest
hospital: : :

In the upper floors, people are ,
dying of smoking-induced ;
diseases, but they make no
sounds. They.are zonked out, {|
after all. ; a

On the sidewalk below, patients
cling to their “dancing partners’
(the wheeled racks carrying in-;
travenous bags and catheters) with
one hand, while cupping a ciga- =":
rette in the other. ©. ;

They are dressed in bathrobes
and thin green gowns. Their faces
are hallow from the ordeal of hav-
ing been operated upon. «

They have aged quickly in the
last few days or weeks, all of

. them. They shiver in the January

wind. |. ’ . ne

Passing cars splash slush ‘on |

“ their slippers and wheelchairs.

This can’t be helping their re-

“covery — which, in any event, is
only going to be temporary. By 75 -

: years of age, at the most,'they’ll : =
all be gone, killed by the weed. © |

They are the dying. Outcasts.
The smoking wounded. Spat out
by the machine. Stained. The new
untouchables. The ones on the‘

- losing side of the new sinoking
zone apartheid. © J ;

To say the very least they are '

” treated like a subclass, second-,
maybe even third-class citizens. ,
They might as wel! be forced to
wear armbands, :

-. Somehow, this doesn’t square
with the fiotion of the kind of
place | thought my country to be.
... Surely it hasn’t become a place
that shoves the sick and the
maimed out into the cold? That

» makes one class of people less
equal than others?’ ;

. But it has indeed become that.
‘In the rash to become a do-good

-- police state, compassion has been =<

thrown out into the street, along
. with the victims. a

Canadian law has, in the pro-
cess, become breathtakingly
hypocritical.

These pariah huddled against
the winter gusts get their fix from
a substance that can legally be
bought across the street in the
grocery store, like candy.

Message: You can’t smoke, but
you can. This is a crime. No it’s
not, It’s OK to inhale, illegal to
exhale,

As for all those poor office
workers hanging around the exits
and entrances, in parking lots and
on balconies, sulkily smoking, I
see nothing wonderful about peo-
ple being treated like dirt.

How can anyone be proud of a
country that makes a fortune
through taxes from a supremely
addictive killer drug, then turns
around and treats the addicts
themselves like lepers, while leav-
ing the dealers free to amass for-
tunes from human misery?

In the meantime, other. fortunes
are amassed from the sale of,»

drugs that are deemed to be il-
legal, although they are not much
worse, in some cases Far less
worse, than the killer nicotine
itself.

Virtually none of this other
money gets into the hands of gov-
ernment to help pay for anything. °

The inconsistencies and crazy-
quilt contradictions of the law
aside, it seems to me that the
measure of the level of civilization
a society has achieved is still, as
Gandhi said, the way it treats its
minorities.

Sinokers have become a
persecuted minority in Canada.
The collective rights approach to
law, which emphasizes the protec-
tion of the group rather than than
the individual, has triumphed.

Each new anti-smoking measure
that comes on streani is praised
for being ‘ttough,"’ as though that -
were a Virtue,

Ah yes, the Mussolini approach.
Fascism is always presenting itself
as toughness. in Freudian terms,

it masks an urge to dominate.

I'm a guy who has been fighting
nicotine addiction since | was 15
years old.

I've stopped more times than |
can count, one time lasting for
nearly 10 years.

I haven't had a cigarette for at
least five months now, (Or is it
four, actually?) I’ve seen too
many peonie die.

If tobacco is a killer (and it is),

then possession for the purposes
of trafficking should be a crime.

Go after the growers and the
dealers and the slick syndicates
that distribute the stuff.

Go after the politicians who are
willing 10 accept blood money «. -
(so-called taxes) from the nicotine!
industry... . oy

Leave the poor bloody junkie
alone. He’s doomed anyway. /°

Your Professional, ‘Committed, :

G {

Save $659 on computer

printer, cable, stand and paper

Real Estate Expert

OFFICE 984-9711
» PAGER: 645-9651 -
FAX: 984-3350

‘APPLY TODAY

Here's a computer designed with your family in mind! This hard working PC-
compatible features a fast 80386SX processor, 1 MB of RAM and a 106 MB
hard drive—plenty of power and capacity for all kinds of software. Better yet,
it comes equipped with DeskMate. This amazing program has dozens and
dozens of uses, from storing and retrieving household data, financial catcula- .
tions, even menu planning! System includes VGA colour monitor. 24-1454/8847
System with printer has the same great features, plus a DMP 136 colour-
capable dot matrix printer, complete with printer cable, printer stand and 500 -
sheets of paper. 25-1454/8847 26-2868/8289/236/1423

on lightweight por:able computing

Weighs less than 7 pounds—but packs
the power of desktcp models. Easy to see
VGA LCD screen, rechargeable battery
6 pack. DOS 5.0 and Windews 3,1. 251-350

pracy ad

Batteries/adapters hot included untess specified. Radio Shack does Not accept responsibility for pictorial or typographical errors. Prices shown are actual retail prices, exclusive of any

i]

Make shopping easier with a

RadioShack credit card. Get an a
ayplication at any Radio Shack i .
stcre or participating dealer, i ,

store or participatin

DIVISION  INTERTAN CANAD:

:

" 2996 Lonsdaio Ave.
North Vancouver

is

Save $867 on comeuter with monitar,

applicable taxis.

1

A LTD

eth