A POOR TAX on beer and cigarettes ?

taxing the poor    For working class people in Rhode Island beer and cigarettes seem to be the legal drugs of preference. Observing in Kennedy Plaza that the very poorest people are the most likely smokers , I think the high cost of cigarettes is nothing less than a gratuitous TAX ON THE POOR.
    How can any poor person with a serious smoking habit pay more than one hundred dollars per month for highly addictive cigarettes and not be living in a cardboard box ?
     Working class beer drinkers might be perplexed by the American Gothic face of H.P. Lovecraft- Providence horror writer and legend-on cans of Narragansett Beer. Lovecraft associated all alcoholic beverages with " The Horror at Red Hook " level of culture. But in the last year of his life he was a convinced socialist with more empathy for the poor.
     Until life improves for poor people don't expect them to give up their paltry pleasures-like booze and cigarettes.And the state should not use this weakness to maximize the misery of the poor.
     It would be wiser to end the war on drugs. That will give the poor people a greater choice of needed intoxicants.
     I say NO TAX ON BEER AND CIGARETTES !