While cigarettes may be harmful to the individual user, they are beneficial to the community at large. They provide jobs from planting/harvesting to packaging to commercial sales. They can be taxed and in extreme cases can provide revenue to local municipalities in the form of fines for smoking in a prohibited area.

In the sense of government definition, the "state" is not every individual that comprises the state. The state is the majority of people in a given situation. The "state" is a fluid entity.

The most recent and dramatic example of smoking being a benefit to society is Watertown resident Dave Henneberry who had abided by the shelter in place advisory all day long and only went outside to have a cigarette after the curfew had been lifted when he discovered the suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in his boat.

So, to all smokers, I say puff away. Help America keep the tobacco industry workers employed. Continue to be a hero on that thin golden-brown line even though you may sacrifice your lungs or your life for the betterment of the rest of us.

You are our heroes.

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