This is great news for cancer doctors. They won't be the victims of technologic unemployment.

Bey these smokers voted for ObamaCare.....heaven knows they don't pay their fair share of taxes to offset extra medical expenses they accrue....tax cig at $25/pack!

I've smoked for over 50 yrs. I buy my own health insurance (always have)and voted McCain (I was hoping for someone who would actually be conservative and leave people alone to smoke, but thats another story).
I've always wondered: why, if smokers take so many health care dollars, insurers don't raise their premiums, or deny them coverage altogether?

I wonder how much taxes soda pop drinkers, or "McBiggie" eaters should pay to offset THEIR medical expenses?

This is JUST ONE of the problems some of us see with "Obamacare" - instead of providing care to sick people, the "health police" will attempt to dictate personal health habits!

BTW - Many of us smokers are already getting together to import cigarettes via trips to Idaho, so raising the tax in Utah will probably result in less revenue, not more!

Smokers are a declining revenue source for Utah one way or another!

I'm with you about your right to make decisions about your own health. I drink too much Diet Coke and you smoke. None of us are perfect.

The difference is, however, that my Diet Coke doesn't float over to you and into your mouth. Your smoke hurts those around you. If you are one of the few smokers who don't smoke anywhere in public but only in your own home and car then I've got no problem with you. Otherwise, I'd like to remind you that even if you smoke outside that your smoke drifts away from where you and disturbs others greatly. Most smokers throw their used filters out the car window or on the ground making the entire area look like a landfill.

My neighbors smoke on their patio behind their house forcing me to close the windows even in the summer. I've started playing music when they do this since asking them to stop has gotten me nowhere. They reacted rudely so I'll just have to see how long they can stand my gregorian chant music at full volume.

Smoking around kids is child abuse.

Good job to Utah's tobacco prevention program for addressing the health and economic tolls of this deadly product here in Utah. You have my support!

Each pack of cigarettes smoked in Utah costs society almost $10 in smoking-attributable medical costs and lost productivity. It's fair to ask tobacco users to shoulder more of the financial burden that we all share.

Tobacco prevention saves lives and money.

Governor Herbert says he's going to gut state programs. I hope this isn't one of them.