Choose Health, Vote Yes on Prop. 31

Dear Editor,

Would you mind if my company sells addictive drugs in sugary flavors that appeal to children? Annually, the drugs would painfully kill tens of thousands in California and nearly half a million nationwide, and not just users, but those trying to breathe around them too.

No reasonable person would support that, but that’s the tobacco business model. For decades, the industry has turned misery into profit, even spiking nicotine to make products more addictive. Smell the air inside high school bathrooms and you’ll find that flavored vaping hooks kids, too.

Thankfully California banned sales of menthol cigarettes and other flavored drugs. Using money swindled from its victims, the tobacco industry challenged the law, requiring voters to consider Prop. 31.

Prop. 31 will reduce addiction, cancer and premature death. Rarely do we get the opportunity to dramatically improve public’s health so easily. Even if you use tobacco, do you want kids addicted to it? This lifelong Californian encourages you to choose health instead by voting yes on Prop. 31.

–Matt Johanson, Castro Valley