Can Internet Tobacco Orders Be Banned In A Spending Bill?

[Worknman]

We all know they snuck in raising the tobacco age to 21 in the recent spending bill. Its scary they can just toss in laws like this into giant unrelated bills knowing there won't be much debate or resistance.

Theres a house bill right now that seeks to end internet and catalog tobacco orders. It would've sucked, but Im curious as to why they didn't do the same for banning internet sales as they did with raising the minimum age. What's the deal with that, was there something about the nature of the subject preventing it? Seems they could've went the easy route instead of doing the whole individual bill process.

 

[brian64]

was there something about the nature of the subject preventing it?

They typically make up the rules as they go along these days, so I'm only speculating, but the short answer may be that it was prevented/delayed possibly due to cigar lobby influence? (God bless the cigar lobby).

The longer answer is, you should really never expect to find reason, logic, or sanity in anything that is done by a system that is fundamentally corrupt, broken and insane to its core...and just generally FUBAR.

 

[alaskanpiper]

They can do whatever they want. If not, they will just change the laws to make it so they can, or better yet, ignore the law and just tell you that what they are doing is legal because they say so.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

Nothing prevents it. The internet sales ban proposed in the House doesn’t have enough Senate support. Yet.

 

[Akousticplyr]

 

[gervais]

If they ever banned Internet sales, I'd have to break the bank to buy tobacco locally. In other words, id quit the pipe and be very sad

 

[Bowie]

If they ever banned Internet sales, I'd have to break the bank to buy tobacco locally. In other words, id quit the pipe and be very sad

I think B&Ms would charge even more, too, with the lack of online competition.

 

[Worknman]

Nothing prevents it. The internet sales ban proposed in the House doesn’t have enough Senate support. Yet.

Has it even been discussed in the Senate? I don't think its made it out of the House yet.

 

[mso489]

From the sounds of things, Forums members as a group could coast for a decade or more with little impact, but jimmied legislation could be the end of new pipe smokers unable to buy basics. The wonderland of blends and pipes draws in customers. Without that, it would just look kind of antiquated and shady at the same time. Big tobacco used to be able to do anything, and now they can't.

 

[seanv]

Did the age for tobacco purchase raise to 21 across all states?

 

[verporchting]

Said it before but it’s worth repeating: cellar wide, cellar deep and cellar now.

That noise you are hearing is the two minute warning and this game is almost over.

If you’re even allowed to buy tobacco in ten years it will likely be heavily restricted and taxed and bloody expensive but at least you won’t be able to order online and most of the B&M stores will be long gone and you’ll have very little choice, but otherwise it will be ... over.

 

[Bengel]

Did the age for tobacco purchase raise to 21 across all states?

Yes. And to the OP question it is spending they do what the lobbyist constituents want.

 

[homesteader]

I wrote my congressman, letting him know that living in a rural area I was dependent on online purchasing. He represents a mostly rural district here in Missouri. I don't know if my email helped, but he at least acknowledged receiving it.

 

[peregrinus]

In Washington State catalog, phone and internet sales were banned 10 years ago. Only face to face retail purchases are legal in this state. This, and state tobacco taxes are high and real BM tobacconists (eg. not head or vape shops) are few, very few because margins are very thin and support is low for a legit a tobacconist.
If it’s important to you, cellar some now, repent a little later.

 

[trubka2]

The new 21+ change wasn't exactly a surprise. The papers have been reporting on it for over a year. IIRC, it was authored and pushed by Altria (big cig and Juul) and their lobbyists, and it had very vocal support from pro-tobacco pols in both houses. I guess they figured that throwing the antis a bone could burnish the industry's rep a little and help in the long run. There's so much palm-greasing and cat-herding involved that this kind of thing is usually pretty easy to see coming if you're paying attention, so I'm doubtful we'll get totally blindsided by an online sales ban, as so many seem to believe. But I'm also cellaring like crazy.

 

[olkofri]

They can do whatever they want. If not, they will just change the laws to make it so they can, or better yet, ignore the law and just tell you that what they are doing is legal because they say so.

This is basically the way they've been doing it for quite a while. And if that doesn't work, then there's always the de facto Order in Council, or whatever the equivalent of that is in your countries. They're mad dogs no one can stop anymore.

 

[sablebrush52]

All manner of unrelated riders can be added to a bill.

 

[alaskanpiper]

All manner of unrelated riders can be added to a bill.

Yep. Remember the last controversial tax cut that was passed? The “Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017.” That very same legislation opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for lease sales to oil companies, and therefore drilling.
?‍

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

This crap is how "pork" gets approved. Meaningful and important bill is pushed and they slide in all the pork to ride along with it. Slide in a $20M appropriation to study the matng habits of feral pigs in Montana so they can get the Montana Senator's vote in Senate. Then you start throwing around all the "for the greater good" crap and it's "for the children" bs and the you have it. Taxpayers lose again and don't even know it. To top it off, the Montana Senator's Son heads up the research group conducting the study at a salary of $750K per year. They buy the feral pigs from the brother for $5,000 each.

Every wonder how a politician goes into office with nothing and comes out a multi millionaire 12 years later on a salary of $175K per year?

 

[sablebrush52]

Every wonder how a politician goes into office with nothing and comes out a multi millionaire 12 years later on a salary of $175K per year?

Well for one thing, Congress gave itself the right to legally engage in insider trading. Just one of their many perks.