15 Feb 2012 ‘Occupy Occupy D.C. Smoke-In’ Set for Thursday

Washington, D.C. – Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., the home to an Occupy D.C. encampment since last September, will be the venue for the enjoyment of tasty cigars and insightful discussion about flawed federal and state regulations of tobacco products on Thursday, February 16.

The “Great Occupy Occupy D.C. Smoke-In” will be held from 11:15 AM until 12:30 PM on the eastern end of Freedom Plaza (13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW). In the case of inclement weather, call (703) 568-4727 for the alternate location.

“Regulations are supposed to make us safer,” said David Almasi, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research and director of the National Center’s “Occupy Occupy DC” project. “But when government gets too big, it makes stupid mistakes: like regulating or taxing smoke-free, non-carcinogenic e-cigarettes like they were traditional cigarettes, which discourages people from switching from a product that causes cancer to one that doesn’t. Our ‘Great Occupy Occupy D.C. Smoke-In’ will help show Americans that big government and more regulations don’t necessarily translate into more health.”

“Tobacco use is harmful to health. But that doesn’t mean that regulators should have free rein to advance unwise policies on tobacco and other things,” said Jeff Stier, director of the Risk Assessment Division, a program of The National Center for Public Policy Research. “The federal government, through the Centers for Disease Control, is using hundreds of millions of dollars a year as a slush fund to hand out grants to activist groups in cities around the country. These groups, at the behest of the CDC, are pushing unpopular tax increases on soda, as well as smokeless tobacco, which is less harmful than cigarettes.”

The National Center for Public Policy Research obtained a permit to hold daily noontime events at Freedom Plaza between February 12 and March 15.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank with over 100,000 recent supporters. Contributions to it are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

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