THE TOBACCO WAR

As a result of several pen strokes by President Clinton, it is now a federal crime to sell tobacco products to minors. This is the capstone in the president's all-out war on smoking among younger Americans. An exceptional amount of energy has gone into the administration's efforts to curb teen-age use of tobacco, and the cost of enforcing the crackdown has yet to be calculated.

Don't take this the wrong way. Every effort should be made to keep youngsters and tobacco apart. The decision to smoke is one that should be left to older and, it can be hoped, more mature individuals who can weigh the medical evidence against the pure pleasure of smoking.

But there are good reasons to question whether President Clinton is more concerned about the well-being of the young people of America or the headlines his anti-tobacco campaign will produce. Is this just another election-year ploy?

In all likelihood, the best answer is yes. It already is against the law to sell tobacco products to minors in most every state in the nation. Missouri has strict laws that have been on the books for years. As almost anyone can tell, laws and their penalties are rarely enough to stem a habit like smoking cigarettes.

Indeed, any effort to curb teen-age smoking must be heavy on education and even heavier on parental involvement. If parents think it is OK for their children to smoke, it will take a lot more than a law -- state or federal -- to keep it from happening.

This year's Democratic push to stay in the White House has produced some strange twists and turns. The administration's tough stand on tobacco and children is just one of them. This is the same administration that has benefited from ample campaign contributions from tobacco companies. This is the same administration whose own vice president has family ties to the tobacco industry.

And this is the same administration that has allowed four years to elapse in which virtually nothing of consequence had been done to deal with the growing use of illegal hard drugs by Americans of all ages. Why should anyone expect this administration to have any more impact on children who sneak behind the garage to take a few puffs of a cigarette?