CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The ban on smoking has opened a new can of worms in Kanawha County with the request of health authorities for police to escort inspectors on their rounds to check bars for compliance.

But on second sober thought, neither can nor worms are new in this case of prohibition against a commercial product. In the days of old, King Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun.

Today's smoking ban recalls prohibition against the sale of liquor in the country, and even later, prohibition against the sale of liquor by the drink in public and private places in West Virginia.

Old-timers will recall that private investigators of the sale of liquor by the drink in Kanawha County asked for no police protection or government help otherwise.

One investigator of the old Press Club in downtown Charleston on Kanawha Boulevard simply bought a drink and poured it into a sock on his foot as evidence to be offered in court against the club for breaking the law.

In time, liquor by the drink in private and public places was legalized in county and state. Legalization and taxation in the instance followed a national trend that closed the curtain for good on battles between lawmen and bootleggers who were often gangsters.

But alas, the smoking ban bids to raise the curtain on a similar tragicomedy in bars and clubs, with inspectors escorted by sheriff's deputies or city police. The aim is a smoke-free society, despite polluting cars and plants.

The current issue of BusinessWeek magazine has a cover story on "Marlboro Countries," noting where Philip Morris International is reaching around the globe to increase business. It faces wariness about the health risk of cigarette smoking practically everywhere.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The ban on smoking has opened a new can of worms in Kanawha County with the request of health authorities for police to escort inspectors on their rounds to check bars for compliance.

But on second sober thought, neither can nor worms are new in this case of prohibition against a commercial product. In the days of old, King Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun.

Today's smoking ban recalls prohibition against the sale of liquor in the country, and even later, prohibition against the sale of liquor by the drink in public and private places in West Virginia.

Old-timers will recall that private investigators of the sale of liquor by the drink in Kanawha County asked for no police protection or government help otherwise.

One investigator of the old Press Club in downtown Charleston on Kanawha Boulevard simply bought a drink and poured it into a sock on his foot as evidence to be offered in court against the club for breaking the law.

In time, liquor by the drink in private and public places was legalized in county and state. Legalization and taxation in the instance followed a national trend that closed the curtain for good on battles between lawmen and bootleggers who were often gangsters.

But alas, the smoking ban bids to raise the curtain on a similar tragicomedy in bars and clubs, with inspectors escorted by sheriff's deputies or city police. The aim is a smoke-free society, despite polluting cars and plants.

The current issue of BusinessWeek magazine has a cover story on "Marlboro Countries," noting where Philip Morris International is reaching around the globe to increase business. It faces wariness about the health risk of cigarette smoking practically everywhere.

A diagram shows a range of male cigarette smokers and the price of a pack of cigarettes in each country. It includes China, for example, with a 60 percent rate of male smokers and the price of a pack of Marlboros at $2.20.

By comparison, male smokers top out at 25 percent in South Africa and a pack of Marlboros at $2.22. On and on the diagram goes with other countries.

We know in West Virginia that the current state tax of 55 cents brings the average price of a pack of cigarettes to more than $3, or about half the cost of a pack in New York City, the highest in the country.

Noteworthy, according to BusinessWeek, "Global commerce in counterfeit cigarettes is thriving, thanks in part to the steep excise taxes some countries slap on tobacco." China is seen as the center of the industry with estimated production of "190 billion copycat smokes each year."

In the city of Yumxiao, "cigarette production takes place in homes, barns and even caves," reported Caijing, China's leading business magazine.

It smacks of the predicted growth of the cigarette black market in West Virginia and the nation, egged on by higher and higher taxes advocated by smoking ban czars and their followers.

To almost everybody else, it seems clear that black-market operators pay no taxes to help educate youths about the health risk of smoking and adults about the effects of nicotine on their lives.

Peeks is a retired business/labor editor of the Gazette.