Bex, no disrespect intended, but we are a society that is Told what to Do.

The benefits of tobacco exist. Just watch any National Geographic show, you'll see all the elders of the indeginous tribes puffing away on tobacco. These elders are obviously way into their 80's and 90's.

By all accounts of our "Masters of Dis-info", these elders should be long gone.

I used to believe unquestionably what our "Masters of Dis-info" beamed into my nightly television shows, and conversely into my brain. No more.

Tobacco is an ancient natural herb, with extremely high beneficial health benefits, as nightlight has documented.

Here's one more link, showing that the California Desert Indians would smoke tobacco to cure a cold.

http://www.tobacco.org/History/indiantobcalif.html
"Smoking was said by the desert Indians to be a cure for colds, especially if the tobacco was mixed with the leaves of the small Desert Sage, Salvia Dorrii , or the root of Indian Balsam or Cough Root, Leptotaenia multifida , the addition of which was thought to be particularly good for asthma and tuberculosis. The introduced Tree Tobacco, Nicotiana glauca , which is common in waste places below 3000 ft., is also said to have been used for smoking by both the Indians and whites. Medicinally the leaves were supposed to be good steamed and used as a poultice to relieve a swollen throat, and steamed into the body for those suffering from rheumatism."