It is no more a practical idea to outlaw cigarettes in America than it is to outlaw alcohol or greasy burgers. And by even suggesting such an addled course, David Kessler, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, makes a person wonder what he's been smoking.

Never mind that tobacco is one of the great health hazards of America and nobody needs it to survive. The same is true of fat-filled foods. And while you may succeed through education campaigns in gradually weaning more Americans away from such habits, it is not politically or legally possible to outlaw something that involves millions of Americans.

Good for Kessler for his determination to find an effective way to stop smoking. But this ain't it. Anyone who advocates criminalizing tobacco has a better understanding of human physiology than of human nature.

He is also awfully smug about the answer to the ethical question in these matters. While there is a sound legal and moral basis for controlling smoking to prevent harm from tobacco smoke to people who don't use the stuff, it is another matter when government involves itself in saving people from themselves. There is something Big Brotherish about that. It stimulates surrealistic thoughts of the Weed Police breaking down doors and shooting people for doing something dangerous.

Outlawing mass habits usually doesn't work well. All you're going to do if you make tobacco illegal is create a robust black market. If you can't find ways through persuasion and education to help people quit if you don't curb the market you probably can't curb the drug.

As a matter of fact, some prog

ress has been made over the years by educating the public against smoking. David Kessler would serve us better and save more of us from Demon Weed if he focused his fervor on that approach. B.H.