Tobacco

When politicians talk about tobacco today, they usually consider the industry that produces and sells tobacco products, the “public health enemy number one.” ¹ As Kenneth E. Warner, Professor of Public Health at the University of Michigan, remarks, “[f]or governments, tobacco is both a health threat and a powerful economic force that annually generates hundreds of billions of dollars in sales and billions more in tax revenues.” ² The discussion about tobacco is nowadays dominated by the question of “whether the laws against victimless crimes unjustly interfere with the individuals’ right to choose their own course of action.” ³ In addition, higher prices for tobacco products to decrease the number of smokers instead seem to increase the amount of smuggled goods, especially cigarettes, because their smuggling has become “highly lucrative” ⁴ in many national contexts. The current debates about tobacco in the meantime very often neglect its rich history and cultural impact that has been felt more and more since the 16th century, when the first tobacco plants reached Europe from the New World and soon spread across the rest of the globe.