Put That In Your Pipe

Tobacco companies are suing to prevent the FDA from forcing them to put graphic images on cigarette packs, claiming such regulations violate their free speech rights.  Seems to me that's correct.

It's tough enough to justify any warnings on tobacco, but at least you could say the government is requiring sellers to put out consumer information, just like many other companies must. (Not that that it ends that argument, just that it's been found constitutional so far.) But requiring what's hoped to be powerfully anti-tobacco images on packs goes beyond informing the consumer and into forcing manufacturers to put out government propaganda.

Tobacco companies are very unpopular, but they're still selling a legal product, and there should be limits to what the government can do.