FDA to Ban Menthol in Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars

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BROBS

Lifer
Nov 13, 2019
11,765
40,036
IA
You are right, but I think it is a little more involved. When they calculate the impact on health costs, loss of work, and cost of regulation, they deem tobacco to be the largest drain on the overall system. I know, I know, none of us asked for any of that, but... “¯\_(ツ)_/¯ “
What about seatbelts? Same reasoning. People fly out of window, get head injury, who pays for it? The state. Seatbelt = saving the state healthcare $$
 
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alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,421
43,711
Alaska
It is always interesting to drill down into the logic and reason of why something like this would be put on the table. Sifting through potential "good" reasons for it to happen, or "good" reasons for it not to happen can be a fun and engaging exercise for the citizen brain.

Trust me, every politician mulling over the issue is sifting through those very same options. What we as citizens often fail to implement when it comes to our own analysis, is that politicians in today's world are not limited by logic, truth, or reason. Justification for the support of any certain policy can be based on information that is suspect, exaggerated, or entirely fabricated, and there is no real negative cost for the politician.

However, as with any decision made by an American politician in today's political climate, those reasons, explanations, and justifications are nothing more than a means to an ends. Simply figures plugged into an equation that will result in a total number of one of two things. After the numbers are run, and the totals are estimated, they are left with a simple way forward. Whichever option they believe will garner them a higher number of either, is the answer on whether to support or oppose. Like any business, and let's be real here, that is exactly what politics is, their job is then to market the selected option that they feel is the most likely to sell well in their target market (their constituents). If they succeed at this (which they will attempt to do at all costs) they will in fact receive a greater number of one of the two things that they are after.

And what are those two things? I have created the below diagram to explain how both of them play in to the overall strategy of nearly every American career politician (which is most all of them) on either side of the aisle.

Politics Meme.png


As with most legislation, this is not about health. It is not about people. It is not about care. It is, as always, about what will be the most likely position to allow them to retain their employment, control, power, opportunity for advancement, and therefore, MONEY.
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
10,019
16,051
Let’s maybe take a look at where our education money is going, and where it needs to go. Maybe some consideration is due to people who, through no fault of their own, we’re stuck in a shitty school, with shitty parents who didn’t care or were taught in the same bad school-but that consideration should be towards educating them further, not letting them be dumb.
Well said. Some other media references for you:




 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
9,966
40,774
RTP, NC. USA
I don't think we are hurting enough to do anything about the anti-smoking issues. Once the government really stump on the tobacco, and the black market kicks in, the government will say they were wrong. There is no direct link between smoking and health, people who smoke just seems to die early. Meaning, they miss all the tax and kick back they were getting from Big Tobacco. They will bring it back as some "medical" reason.
 
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FurCoat

Lifer
Sep 21, 2020
10,022
94,423
North Carolina
Also, as shown by @smudgersmissingleg , someone will just come out with a workaround. Sprays, infusers, etc.
I've got a work around. Smoke a bowl of Frosty Mint in dedicated pipe, now everything you smoke in the pipe will be menthol. Problem solved. We could pre-ghost pipes and put them on the market. I don't see any law against flavored pipes. Your experience with Frosty Mint is an inspiration.
 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
12,235
18,056
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Not for those with a well defined understanding of right and wrong. I'm not a fan of "gray areas" or "doing what's easy or comfortable." I find people who abide flexible standards/ethics of right and wrong to be particularly undependable. One never knows how they will react in a situation. They usually seem to go with the flow or, react only in ways which are best for them. The older I get, the less tolerant I am of "situational ethics."
 

OneGoodBulldog

Can't Leave
Nov 2, 2020
316
924
I see that. However, cigarettes do cause harm and damage and immense cost in healthcare etc, and it can only be expected that at some point there will be regulations put in place, and that those regs will over time become more restrictive. Society at large wants this to happen, too, so how much of it can just be motivated by lust for control?

I get your point, and agree for the most part.

If they were really serious about “protecting our health,” why not just ban tobacco? Oh yeah. Money.

And, to continue the rest of the conversation, we’re not in this mess because of who we vote for, or us not raising our voices enough...we’re in this mess because we happen to enjoy a form of substance that, in some forms, causes a lot of health effects and straight up kills people. We’ll never have a politician who stands up and says, “Yay! Tobacco! Smoke em if you got em!” Because he or she would never win a vote. The only thing we can really do is raise our voices to defend our little niche world for as long as we can.
We tried to offset healthcare costs associated with tobacco use here in Canada by taxing it to death. We lost revenue and tax dollars and our healthcare system didn't improve one single bit. Was a cash cow and a virtue signal, nothing more. Also created a huge black market as well as drove a ton of business southward.
 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
9,966
40,774
RTP, NC. USA
Simple. All those politicians are potheads.
We tried to offset healthcare costs associated with tobacco use here in Canada by taxing it to death. We lost revenue and tax dollars and our healthcare system didn't improve one single bit. Was a cash cow and a virtue signal, nothing more. Also created a huge black market as well as drove a ton of business southward.
Black market works. Might even motivate those innocent politicians. Innocent as $20 whores.
 
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