This stunning example of the genre comes from Canada.
Comment magazine publisher Michael Chesney was told Monday to remove the tobacco plants from his Victoria Street storefront or face a fine under the Tobacco Control Act.
Since 2008, the province has prohibited the display and promotion of tobacco products anywhere that could be seen by minors. Similar regulations exist all across Canada with the aim of deterring younger people from taking up smoking.
Chesney was growing a crop of about 50 tobacco plants at his magazine office that he formerly ran as the Kootenay Time cafe. He said the plants were grown from seed and were being used to provide shade and privacy for people working inside.
He was given two days to either remove them or face a fine of $575 each day they remained on display.Perhaps the plants were just too glitzy for the precious child automatons of British Columbia, who are obviously so well educated that they are experts at botany and can identify plants in the genus Nicotiana with just a glance.
Sadly, they are simultaneously devoid of any education as to the dangers of smoking and utterly incapable of restraint or self-control.
There are times when I truly pity the tobacco control industry for their total lack of common sense and failure to understand how idiotic they look to the outside world. This is one of those occasions.
