That shouldn’t cost me
The Feb. 22, 2020, West Hawaii Today carried an article by Chelsea Jensen on bills being worked on by Hawaii lawmakers. Specifically, it had to do with increasing the age at which people can purchase cigarettes and other health-threatening inhalants. Everyone knows that those who choose to smoke will get others to purchase the inhalants for them and we, those who choose not to infect our bodies with that poison, will share in footing the health costs when illness sets in.
It seems that our legislators are not interested in getting people interested in being responsible for their own choices. Shouldn’t the person with a clear mind who chooses to drink radiator coolant that is clearly marked as a poison be allowed to do so and also suffer the consequences of his choice?
Why not require cigarettes, electrical smoking devices, and other health-risking products to be labeled as health hazards shifting the consequences back on to the user? That way, legislation can be passed allowing the insurance companies to deny them coverage for choosing the health risk. Place responsibility back onto the consumer who choose the health risk or force him to seek compensation from those who produce the product. As is, we all share in the health costs for those who choose to risk their health by purchasing products that create the problem as the poison producers bask in the profits that should go to those who suffer from the consequences of ingesting the poison.
It shouldn’t cost me money if my neighbor chooses to poison himself.
Leningrad Elarionoff
Waimea