sample="rhetorical" bates="TIMN367833" isource="ti" decade="1980" class="ui" date="19880606" June 6, 1988 Surgeon General's Report on Tobacco and Addiction Surgeon General Koop has concluded that tobacco is addictive and has compared tobacco with "other addicting drugs such as heroin and cocaine." 1. Koop's conclusions trivialize the war against drugs. Surgeon General Koop's message that cigarettes are like heroin also includes the reciprocal inference that hard drugs like cocaine and heroin are no different than cigarettes. -- Isn't this likely to encourage hard drug use? -- Isn't this likely to play into the hands of those who favor legalizing hard drugs? 2. Koop's conclusion is contradicted by his own report. The Surgeon General's Report states that "According to the 1985 National Health Interview Study (NHIS), there are approximately 41 million former smokers in the United States. Approximately 90 percent of former smokers report that they quit smoking without formal treatment programs or smoking cessation devices." (P.466) The Surgeon General's report is a compilation of existing literature. No new research is contained in the report. His conclusion conforms with his political goal of a smokeless society and surely was reached long before the report was drafted. 3. Editors across the country disagree with Koop. "Smoking bears no resemblance to drug abuse or alcohol abuse. Smoking does not affect mental acuity, nor temporarily derange a person, nor produce so much as a lull in anyone's contact with reality." The Boston Globe Classifying the dangers of nicotine with the horrors of heroin and cocaine is misguided zealotry. It downgrades, even discredits, the nation's campaign against hard drugs..." "Indeed, the surgeon general's latest attack on smoking is itself generally irresponsible. His enthusiasm has turned to zealotry and is on its way to fanaticism. His concern for the people's health is no longer mixed with a healthy respect for individual rights and individual responsibility." The Indianapolis Star CONFIDENTIAL: MINNESOTA TOBACCO LITIGATION 3. Editors across the country disagree with Koop. (con't.) "If you have any doubts as to the ridiculousness of Koop's contention, ask yourself a question. How many people have turned to crime to support a tobacco habit?" The Kansas City Star "What's most absurd about his report is that it also equates nicotine addiction with addiction of heroin and cocaine. This should do wonders for the government's ongoing 'war' against drugs..." "What we need is a different warning, to be stamped on every federal document and on every paycheck given to government workers, reading: 'Warning: Power is addictive. Once you start abusing your office and wasting the taxpayers' money, you may not be able to stop.'" The Orange County (CA) Register CONFIDENTIAL: MINNESOTA TOBACCO LITIGATION