right now people who cant breathe (or read warnings)are bumming cigarettes. what message or important comment does the right now comment appear to be making?

Answer 1

It tries to impart a feeling of immediate, dangerous disaster or calamity. I find it hyperbolic.

To the sentence itself, people who cant breathe are dead. Emotional hyperbole makes the statement irrational.

~"who can barely breathe"~ would work...

Reading warnings and ignoring them is different from being illiterate.