Anti-Smoking Campaign

* Re “Shock Value,” March 23.

This is where my taxes are going? To a woman who is trying to kill herself with tobacco and alcohol?

Addictions are terrible things and difficult to change. [Debi] Austin has more compelling reasons to change than most people. Her situation should cause me to be compassionate. I cannot be when she thumbs her nose at such a serious warning as cancer and expects me to pay. While it’s commendable she is attempting to “give back” by being involved in anti-smoking campaigns, my taxes should not pay for her self-imposed life of disability.

MARIE MARTIN

Sherman Oaks

* It seems that the more people are told about something--whether the message is negative or positive--the more it’s pushed to the forefront of their thoughts. Especially our youth. Teenagers have a tendency to rebel and will embrace the opposite of what adults want them to do. If you really wanted to get our youth to not smoke, you should have commercials showing adults enjoying smoking, and encourage them to try it.

Take the money from the tobacco tax initiative out of the hands of the moral elitists and put it toward tobacco-related health care costs. Most of all, you no-smoke campaigners, quit trying to push your quasi-righteous beliefs down my throat.

TOM SNYDER

Tarzana

* You amaze me! The Valley Edition has a long story about a woman who is so addicted to tobacco that she smokes through a tube in her windpipe after removal of her cancerous larynx, even while she makes anti-smoking commercials.

Meanwhile, the oh-so-stylish Los Angeles Times Magazine, on the same day, has a cover photo of Geoffrey Rush and Billy Bob Thornton, both with cigarettes in their hands (“The Outsiders”).

Isn’t hypocrisy wonderful.

TOM BURTON

Van Nuys