Eighty national public health groups, including the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Preventative Medicine, placed a full-page ad in Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post in support of a federal ban on menthol in cigarettes and all flavored cigars.
“The answer is clear,” the full-page ad says. “Saving lives starts by ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.
“Smoking kills nearly half a million people in the United States each year, and these addictive, deadly products are a big part of the problem. The FDA and White House have our full support to release lifesaving rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.”
When are we going to start banning flavored alcohol like White Claw and Mike’s while we’re at it
Menthol and other flavoured cigarettes were banned in the EU years ago, and I don’t recall much of a fuss, not sure why this would be an issue in the US.
My experience was that long time smokers weren’t the ones smoking menthol and other weird stuff, it was mostly kids that didn’t like tobacco.
You do have a point but the danger is far higher on the tabaco side. Priorities and such, we won’t see anything like that for quite some time.
Is it though? I’m pretty sure alcohol is the most destructive legal drug there is. But prohibition didn’t go so great last time so don’t take that as a call to start banning sweet alcohol, I just disagree with the assertion that tobacco is worse.
According to global statistics, Alcohol was responsible for 5% of global deaths, while tobacco squeaked past with 8% of global deaths.
I’m suggesting that the negative health effects are more pronounced with tobacco.
The real priority is to work to eliminate the power of public health to dictate private life choices.
I have maybe a cigar a month. Sometimes, a nice dipped cigar is enjoyable. It’d be a shame to just outright ban them.
I sort of feel like this is the equivalent of banning white claws or even everything other than IPAs. During the summer I have a cigar most days. Once the temps drop below 60, I’m done with tobacco for six months or so. I don’t smoke flavored cigars, but I don’t like it for those who do.
Yeah, it’s unfortunate. I understand it. The flavours do make smoking more enticing to young people, who might not limit themselves to one cigar a month like you do. But it does suck to ban something outright just because some people will misuse it. Mind you, nicotine is addictive, which is a pretty critical facet to this (though I don’t think anyone starts smoking without knowing this risk).
I dislike smoking in general and do want things that are good for society as a whole. But the logic of banning stuff like this seems similar to, say, banning fast food because some people will overeat (or more extreme, having calorie rationing so that people can’t overeat on any kind of food). It’s admittedly always a balancing act for how much danger is acceptable before we just ban it for everyone. Some bans using this logic are very reasonable, some aren’t, and many are extremely debatable.
I think I currently prefer the sin tax approach, especially since that best accomodates occasional usage. A hefty tax makes the dangerous thing less accessible to impressionable young people and helps pay for the social cost (though IIRC, smokers actually cost society less because they die younger, reducing the many medical costs of old age). Price influences people’s choices, too. If healthy food is cheaper than unhealthy food, that encourages buying healthy stuff. But even sin taxes are imperfect, especially in a vacuum. They can make the cost of living higher for a vulnerable population. They need to be planned carefully.
Tobacco is fucking horrible, but Menthol and other flavorings make it so much worse. They increase the likelihood of addiction massively.
And is always the case in public health, you don’t put in rules to cater to the edge cases, you put in rules to protect the majority affected.
Tell me you’re not a smoker without telling me you’re not a smoker.
You clearly have no idea how tobacco addiction works.
Prohibition doesn’t work. Mind your own fucking business.
I can tell that you’re addicted just by the vitriol in your response here.
Did you start of menthols and other flavored tobacco? Because that’s how a lot of people start. Which is why people are pushing for a ban, so others won’t be as hopelessly addicted as you are.
Urgh, when they banned them in my country it was with this same stupid logic.
Now I don’t smoke (quit 15ish years ago) but this idea that anything flavoured somehow MUST be for the purpose of marketing towards children is insane. It manages to be wrong in two opposite ways:
One: This implies that anything with flavor is not for adults and everyone over the age of majority goes home to enjoy our grey flavourless mush.
Two: This implies that the flavors involved must be what appeals most to children. You know those menthol and whisky tipped smokes that all the children go nuts for.
This logic falls apart (both ways) when you look at any other legal market like booze, weed or vape.
It is almost as if after the US lost the war on drugs they want to try again on a smaller scale.
Does it? I have not been convinced. Also by that logic why should other not healthy things be flavoured? Why can you buy flavoured malt liquor, weed gummies, vapes or edible panties? With this same logic junk food should taste like sadness and regret for the future health of the children (won’t someone think of the children).
How this does not come off as ludicrous to anyone makes me question my own sanity. If smoking was such an issue and potential future addiction had to be stopped, banning the nicotine (you know the addictive) makes more sense then allowing the sale of the same addictive product as long as it does not taste minty.
Have you ever smoked a flavored cigar? Yeah, it tastes just like cherries or grape or cognac or whatever… right up until you light it. And then it tastes exactly like tobacco. Just like all other tobacco. Trust me, flavoring tobacco like anything is not the part that makes “children” want to keep smoking it.
This is hypocrisy. Let people smoke whatever they want. We’re not living in the fifties, everybody and their mother knows nicotine kills.
What they don’t get is that not everybody has a wonderful life and wants to live forever.
There are bans in place for kids, and adults should have the right to decide what they want. Ban flavoured alcohol too then.
You know, I don’t really care what you smoke, but I care that it’s communal. Somebody drinking wine, beer, a white claw, etc a few feet away doesn’t immediately negatively impact my existence by depriving me of clean air … or cause a friend with breathing issues a panic attack.
Plenty of adults “decide” to smoke for kids by smoking with the kids around.
Plenty of adults “decide” to smoke in the entrances of buildings, on busy sidewalks, in an outdoor mall, etc.
Plenty of adults have “decided” to smoke because it’s “safe” per some anecdote that they heard about a family member that smoked 3 packs a day and lived to be 90.
It’s actually all pretty freaking infuriating. One of the best things that’s ever been done is banning smoking inside of most buildings.
At the very least the age should be raised to match alcohol.
We see fewer and fewer of the adults you mention with each passing day.
I recall as a child seeing adults smoking all the time. Now it’s a rare occurrence.
At the very least the age should be raised to match alcohol.
Jesus fucking christ, you people…
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/style/smoking-cigarettes-comeback.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
Yet, in 2020, for the first time in two decades, cigarette sales increased.
That’s not just an unsubstantiated “feeling.”
At the very least the age should be raised to match alcohol.
Jesus fucking christ, you people…
“You people” as if you know me.
In any case, the whole point of alcohol being 21 is that by 21 A) you’re not talking to that many people who are still in high school/not yet 18 and B) you should be making better decisions.
Which has a net effect of lowering the amount of people that engage in these behaviors, because it doesn’t spread as much in high schools.
Now, maybe that doesn’t work as well as “we” (society) thinks, but if we still think it’s a good idea for alcohol it absolutely should apply to cigarettes and vapes. Vaping was supposed to help people stop smoking, not create a whole new problem.
If you’re smoking cigarettes, and you’re proud or happy with that decision as an adult, you are an outlier among outliers. I can’t say I’ve ever met someone that smokes cigarettes that hasn’t tried to completely quit at least once (with the exception of the guy who believes “they’re completely safe” despite all the information to the contrary).
This isn’t alcohol where the majority is split between people that happily consume alcohol in small quantities vs a subset of alcoholics. This is a thing where it’s universally harmful to the smoker, to the people around them, to the environment (cigarette butts), etc. It’s also much more addictive than alcohol and marijuana where people need smoke breaks. It’s just a regrettable mess from when society didn’t know better.
At the very least the age should be raised to match alcohol.
FYI it has been, on a Federal level (in the US), since 2019. Donald Trump of all people on Earth signed that into law. The legal age to buy cigarettes and to buy alcohol in the US is the same, 21.
In some places it has been raised to match alcohol. NY is an example of that: https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/tobacco_control/current_policies.htm#:~:text=Article 13-F Section 1399-CC of the NYS Public,under the age of 21.
Sorry but it’s a witch hunt at this point. And don’t get me started about drunk people wanting to grope me every time I go out.
Where I live, every workplace has a designated area where you can smoke. Indoor smoking is forbidden.
The drinking age here is 16, so is buying tobacco. There really aren’t that many smokers anymore. Most kids vape or smoke pot.
Also if your friend has asthma, I don’t know, stay away from smoking people you see? It can’t be that hard.
Also, I started smoking because I was bored. Now I keep smoking because I want to. I’ve actively stopped kids in my family from starting with it, so I’m not trying to say smoking is ok. Just leave us be.
Sure I’m fine with both bans, alcohol not only kills yourself but many others too. The only reason it’s not illegal is because it’s ingrained in society.
The only reason it’s not illegal is because it’s ingrained in society.
What about the history we learned from when it was illegal?
You… did learn from history, right?
Could you clarify your point? You think flavored cigarettes are just as ingrained as alcohol?
People who think smokers smoke for the flavor are not in touch with reality. This will do nothing for public health.
I think it will. It will drive menthols underground and they’ll become more dangerous just like alcohol during Prohibition.
