Under the "Feedback" section of Focus on the Family, July 1994: ---- This letter was sent to U. S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders after she announced her recent stand against smoking. ---------------- Dear Dr. Elders: There is no sense using scare tactics to persuade kids not to smoke. Young people are going to smoke no matter what we do, so we might as well accept that fact. We would be better off instructing all our young people that smoking is okay as long as they use a filter. We should begin by holding classes that teach young people the proper way to fit a cigarette with a filter. We could use pencils as models and have all students practice placing a filter on a pencil. I'm sure we'll get flack from parents who don't want their kids to smoke under any circumstances, whether they use a filter or not. We can circumvent these troublemakers by instructing all school health clinics to issue filtered cigarettes to any student who asks for them -- regardless if they have permission from their parents. Since kids are starting to smoke at earlier and earlier ages, we should start this education process in kindergarten so we make sure every child has the proper information to experience this whenever he or she desires to do so. We might as well teach them how to smoke in the safest way possible. Daniel P. Erb Spokane, Wash.
(From the "Rest" of RHF)