Drinking and smoking have universally been condemned as major health hazards. Every liquor bottle and cigarette packet bears a warning. Direct action against such evils is justified when a State abdicates its moral and constitutional obligations in favor of raising huge revenues. If force can be used to check drug abuse, there is no reason why the use of liquor and tobacco should not be similarly stopped. An evil is an evil and to suggest that it should be eradicated only through democratic processes is, perhaps, to joke democracy to a wrong cart. Besides, direct action does not necessarily involve violence, a rereading of the editorial Is suggested to note the distinction made between social evils and interference in others’ rights.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 15, 1987
