Am I the only smoker left in Maine who is finding cigarette taxation getting out of hand? It’s still a legal commodity and I am a legal adult who likes to smoke.

Having said that, what I do not like is the fact that our one group is being singled out over the years to pay for the budget in Maine. If we are forced to quit, where will the state get the $77 million generated a year by cigarette taxes?

Now along comes state Rep. Joe Brooks, who has this idea about turning in butts, with a mere 74-cent deposit a pack to go along with the extra 25-cent-a-pack increase proposed by Gov. Angus King.

Pinch me, please. I must be having a nightmare. Never in my life did I see the cost of freedom of choice priced right out of the Constitution.

Darlene Brennan

Caribou