Smoking and Free Speech

Your article (Dec. 23), “Essay Contest Touches Off Ethics Contest,” concerning the ongoing battle between Philip Morris USA and Doctors Ought to Care (DOC) over the rights of cigarette manufacturers to advertise their product, once again points out the disturbing inability of otherwise intelligent Americans to understand the fundamental beauty of our First Amendment right to freedom of speech: the right to be wrong.

Is cigarette smoking dangerous, not only to smokers but also to others? Of course it is; study after study bears this out. Should smoking therefore be banned in public places where risk to others is clear? Of course it should; this is a clear-cut issue involving the actual, physical health of people who choose not to smoke. Should Philip Morris be allowed to advertise its product, even if that point of view flies in the face of reason, not to mention the surgeon general of the United States? Of course it should.

Yes, Philip Morris’ “essay contest” is nothing more than thinly veiled advertising; it’s thoroughly disgusting and I heartily encourage anyone tempted by the lure of its big-bucks prizes not to be suckered in. Smoking is suicide and we must all work together to stop it--but with our minds and our words, not with the easy way out of heavy-handed legislation that would undercut the right we all have to debate, shout it out and reason with one another.

MARK S. HUMPHREYS

Hollywood