.. because, the motivation to prosecute, and then the penalty for conviction, is not evenly applied across populations, nor proportional to the activity which is being called crime. Many future scenarios societally include escalated penalties, escalated prosecution and escalated statements by various parties to unequally apply the force of law, for political or other reasons, on human actors.

Casual, personal items used to determine identity and lead to prosecution years later, are of societal concern for a lot of reasons.

The character smear of the subject in the story, with a statement that implies one cigarette in the wilderness is on par with some invented hypocrisy, is typical of baiting-style political talk, and probably not appreciated among thinking people who are actually considering the issues and circumstances.