Dear Premier Clark:

My name is Gian Turci, and I am the president of FORCES Canada, a non for profit, non tobacco- funded citizen and consumer organization representing the right of choice to smoke in British Columbia and Canada.

The reason for my letter is the profound indignation we feel for the most recent antismoking campaign of the Ministry of Health. While we do not oppose the function of the Ministry to make the population aware of the possible risks that may be linked to smoking, we feel that the Ministry is gone far beyond that and has embarked on a campaign of intolerance.

First, we are troubled by the Ministry's practice of providing information on the effects of smoking that often ranges from the grossly exaggerated, to the completely false. This information is influenced in part by an Ontario-based extremist lobby group, the government-funded, tax-exempt Nonsmokers Rights Association, whose sole purpose is to spread intolerance and junk science against smokers and tobacco industry. A letter from the former Minister of Health Joy MacPhail to one of our members clearly indicates the influence of this group on the Ministry. Moreover, other organizations such as the Canadian Cancer Society enjoy the full attention by the Ministry, while organizations such as ours who are trying to propose reasonable solutions, and demonstrate the corruption of certain science at the base of antismoking propaganda are totally ignored -- except, perhaps, through some standard letter of acknowledgment.

Second, the Ministry of Health has decided to use taxpayers' money to acquire "educational" antismoking commercials from California. Mr. Clark, those commercials have nothing to do with "education". They are designed to spread intolerance of smoking, smokers, and the tobacco industry among the population. They twist reality, while doing nothing demonstrable to control smoking -- and they insult and ridicule a quarter of the tax-paying population. In the latest we have seen, a dog sits outdoors with two young men who are talking to each other while smoking. The dog, clearly disturbed by the cigarette smoke and dumb enough not to move away, decides to piss on the cigarette and the hand of the smoker.

Smokers have been targeted for public ridicule. Should we expect to see a "gamblers are losers" TV "education" campaign or an "if you don't drink, don't start -- avoid your local liquor commission" appeal, complete with a depiction of urination on a beer bottle? I trust you appreciate my point.

Mr. Clark, the contempt of the Ministry of Health for smokers is clear enough without the need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in these lurid commercials. This endorsement of psychological abuse of smokers by the government, while speaking very badly of the Ministry, will eventually be used by some of the people who don't like smoking to justify the use of physical violence against smokers. If this seems preposterous and unlikely, please be assured that we can document the trend of violence toward and discrimination against smokers in the United States, ranging from job discrimination to serious cases of assault. You can rest assured, sir, that many smokers will not turn the other cheek, this writer among them.

We implore you to do something to keep the putrid minds of the BC Ministry of Health at bay, for they are insulting one quarter of your electorate and, Mr. Clark, we WILL REMEMBER THAT during the next elections.

Please, do not send us the standard letter with the computer-generated statistics of mortality. Please, do not inundate us with the "protect the children" routine, and the figures supplied by the NRA, in turn borrowed from the computer-generated figures from the U.S.A. Instead, DO something to restore some tolerance and common sense on smoking in this Province, already troubled by many other REAL and important problems.

Smokers are contributing to the revenue of the B.C. government to the tune of over a million dollars a day, and in doing so they are forced to finance their own harassment. This cannot and will not be tolerated, and cannot continue. The interference of the government in the lives and business of citizens through smoking bans is already damaging enough. Now we are adding insult to injury, with little hope that the installation of a new Minister of Health will restore a more balanced approach. Today, "puking" (we quote the Ministry's own characterization of how to regard smoking) and lying about smoking and smokers seems to be an indispensable requirement to sit on the chair of the Ministry of Health.

We stand by for your reply. Thank you for your attention.

Regards,

Gian Turci
President
FORCES Canada

c.c.: Internet and assorted media