Wouldn&8217;t it be nice to get paid for doing nothing? It&8217;s the dream of workers everywhere.

Think about. It&8217;s a loafer&8217;s dream job: &8220;We&8217;ll pay you NOT to do something.&8221;

Sounds good, huh?

In a way that&8217;s possible for Mississippi taxpayers, only in reverse. If you&8217;ll stop doing something, we&8217;ll waste less of your tax money.

It&8217;s really quite simple, but mention it in some circles and you&8217;ll get a burning earful of smelly, smoky comments.

Should smoking be allowed in public places such as restaurants, bars and the like?

We say &8220;no.&8221;

Now before you smokers tell us to just butt out, consider a few things first.

Lung cancer, the American Cancer Society estimates, will kill more than 2,000 Mississippians this year. That&8217;s fact, not fiction.

Another cold, clear fact is the amount of cold cash smoking causes the state to waste.

The state&8217;s best guess is that it spends more than $240 million in taxpayer money on Medicaid for cigarette-related ailments. That&8217;s $530 per household.

For a state that raked in billions from the much-ballyhooed tobacco settlement money, Mississippi needs to put its heart where its money &8212; and health &8212; is. The state&8217;s ultimate goal should be to curtail smoking-related illnesses.

Call or write your legislator and ask that they support a ban on smoking in public places. Other states have done this already; it&8217;s time for Mississippi to do the same.