When the Alaska State Legislature convenes in January, Rep. Bob Lynn, who served in Vietnam, will be pushing for a bill that would allow active-duty service members younger than 21 to drink alcohol so long as they could produce an armed forces identification card. He would also like to see the smoking age reduced from 19 years old to 18.

“It’s not fair that one guy in a foxhole can go home and have a beer while another guy in the foxhole can’t,” said Lynn, a Republican from Anchorage. “It’s not about drinking, it’s not about smoking, it’s about equality. If you get shot at, you can have a shot.”

That statement might be a little over the top and so might the alcohol law that he’s trying to push, but I do understand the tobacco argument, and I don’t think it should just apply to military personnel. I believe that if you’re 18 you have the right to smoke. After all, at the age of 18 you will be tried as an adult for all sorts of crimes. If there were a death penalty in this state you could be executed, but you couldn’t have a cigarette before your final breathe is taken from you.

If the bill, as Lynn wants it written, passes, the state could lose more than $17 million in federal highway funding, state transportation officials say, because Alaska would be in violation of the national minimum drinking age statute. I say forget the alcohol argument and stick with tobacco.

We all remember the days of smoking behind the bleachers at high school or at house parties. Is it right? I don’t know, but just like abortion, it’s not my decision because it’s not my body. If you’re 18 years old and want to smoke a cigarette then I say go ahead. Hopefully, your parents deter you from doing so, and you are smart enough to stay away from them, but then again, you’re considered an adult by the state and can make up your own mind. I just don’t think that we need to legislate personal decisions.

On Nov. 25, 2008, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates signed a memorandum authorizing the Secretaries all U.S. armed forces agencies to implement a new non-citizen recruiting pilot program. It was titled “Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI). It allows non-citizens, who are here legally, to join the military before obtaining a lawful, permanent residence

So if you’re not a citizen they allow you to join our military, but if you’re 18 and in the military, and a resident in the state of Alaska, you can’t have a cigarette? That I don’t agree with. In my opinion, it’s more disturbing to allow a non-United States citizens to carry a loaded weapon, which we’re providing, and allowing them access to information about our military capabilities. But, according to the memorandum, if you have a green card or student visa, welcome aboard. I think that needs to be revisited. After all, one of the 9/11 hijackers entered our country on a student visa. Letting a non-citizen into the military seems like a bad idea.

My father served in the Korean War. “Everybody smoked back then,” he told me. “Every soldier had a pack of cigarettes on them. Some officers smoked pipes or cigars, but everyone had tobacco. Why not? After all, they were serving their country and offering up their lives.”

We all have our vices. It’s just the nature of things, but Anchorage seems to be a little bit hypocritical. The municipality talks about getting people to quit smoking but, deep down, they love people who smoke. If they hated it so much, why wouldn’t they ban the sale of tobacco altogether? Instead, they tax it. They tax it like it’s the sole means of state income.

Dick Traini, Chair of the Anchorage Assembly, saluted the approval of raising cigarette prices .75 cents a pack in 2010 by saying, “If we can stop the kids from getting hooked on it, I’m in favor of doing it.”

So an 18 year old is a kid? Someone who serves in Iraq or Afghanistan at the age of 18 and gets killed in action is a kid?

An 18 year old can possess less than an ounce of marijuana and smoke it in his or her apartment, but they can’t have a cigarette? Why doesn’t Dick Traini try to change that law? After all, marijuana has much more tar in it than tobacco. But Mr. Traini can’t tax marijuana. Instead, the assembly raised the price of cigarettes to make an extra $5.2 to $6.2 million annually. That’s why Dick Traini was for it.

Let’s just call it what it is – tobacco is not only a money maker for the Muni but also a politicians dream for preaching about the sins of its use. It’s a double edge sword that lawmakers love to pull out when it suits their needs. Dick Traini should be in full support of lowering the smoking age. It would be more taxes for the municipality to collect.

Pat Luby, for the American Association of Retired Persons, in Anchorage said, “This is a tax so we can live longer.” What does that mean? When has a tax helped anyone live longer? What business is it of yours how I want to live my life, Ms. Luby? How about we take away the hundreds of millions of dollars AARP gets in royalties for promoting certain insurance companies to their members, and provide housing for people who are impoverished? Give me a break. At least make your argument sound a little better than equating a higher tax to living longer. I have a big problem with people that tell everyone else how to live. Mind your own business.

I’m for a person’s right to choose for themselves. As far as Alaska law is concerned, if you’re 18 years old, you can make your own decisions; you’re an adult by law.

I understand that society frowns upon it but it’s a conscious choice that adults, who are 18 years old, should be able to make for themselves in this state. Just like joining the military, possibly being sent to war and dying it’s their privilege and I, for one, won’t stand in their way.