45% of Americans Would Make Smoking Illegal

...according to a Zogby International Poll that is still mostly under wraps at the website:

“The number of Americans who support criminalizing cigarette smokers is shocking,” said Nadelmann, [executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance]. “The question is not if cigarette smoking is dangerous and leads to premature death – as surely, it is and does. The question is how to best address cigarette smoking as a public health problem. Based on history and current policies, we know that prohibition often leads to devastating consequences.”

Pretty surprising at first blush. But, on the other hand, people often don't mind having somebody else's rights taken away.

It would be interesting to see what the Red State/Blue State breakdown is here. During the 1996 U.S. election, I remember Bob Dole commenting during a stop somewhere in the South that cigarettes were no more cancer causing than milk, a remark which was universally ridiculed when it got wider play.