The free market system is a thing of beauty, allowing business owners big or small to sell what they please, as long as the product is not banned or a controlled substance.

This is what gives CVS the right to announce they will discontinue the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products by October and locally-owned DrugCo the right not to fall in line with that decision.

We applaud the decision by CVS to discontinue sales on tobacco because it's their right. Conversely, we applaud DrugCo's decision not to follow in their footsteps because it's their right.

Obviously, government in the United States is in no rush to ban tobacco sales, as R.J. Reynolds reports on its website that since 1998 they have, at all levels, collected $484.6 billion in cigarette and sales taxes from those sales.

The tobacco company also reports the government made $3.78 per pack sold in 2012. That's 66 percent of the price of a pack, so as we stated above, the government clearly has no interest in making cigarettes or other tobacco products illegal or it would have done so early on in the research process.

So, you can't blame a business for continuing to sell the products although we believe in the case of DrugCo there are more esoteric reasons that fall in line with our right to choose rather than having someone make our decisions for us.

You're not really thwarting the temptation to smoke by clearing your shelves of the products. We can count at least three other places on Tenth Street within short driving distance of CVS where cigarettes and other tobacco products are readily available for sale.

The choices people make, whether good or bad, are their choices alone, and those who make poor choices will deal with the consequences sooner or later.

As we have stated before and firmly believe, government has no business interfering in our private life, the food we eat, the clothes we buy, the people we associate with as long as we stay within the confines of established laws.

We hope the government won't view the CVS decision as an excuse to sink its claws deeper into our lives or try even harder to be our parents or nannies. Let businesses run their business with as little interference as possible. The right to choose where to shop, what to buy and how much to pay is one of the hallmarks of the free market system and what makes it a thing of beauty — Editor