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Smoking and the Right to Dumb Choices
Los Angeles Times ^ | April 24, 2013

Posted on 04/24/2013 2:44:50 PM PDT by nickcarraway

New York's proposal to ban purchases by those under 21 is off-base.

As thoroughly awful as everyone knows cigarettes to be — still the No. 1 cause of premature death in this country — public officials walk a blurry line when they try to reduce smoking's terrible toll. As long as they lack the will to ban tobacco altogether, they face all sorts of ethical, legal and political problems in regulating a product that is, after all, perfectly legal.

High tobacco taxes, critics say, unfairly punish smokers, who are disproportionately low income. Banning advertising of a legal product raises free-speech issues. And can tobacco companies really be forced to put large graphic warnings on their own products to discourage customers from buying them? Does that make sense?

Now, the New York City Council, backed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, is considering another tactic: making it illegal for anyone younger than 21 to buy cigarettes. Currently, anyone 18 or over can buy a pack.

Bloomberg has taken a lot of ribbing for previous nanny-state proposals involving salt and trans-fats and, especially, for his plan to ban the serving of soft drinks larger than 16 ounces. The new proposal would, at least theoretically, make cigarettes difficult to obtain by those who are most vulnerable to peer pressure and tobacco marketing. Prevention makes sense because smoking is so addictive that more than 85% of those who try to quit relapse.

Yet the good intentions are outweighed by the proposal's problems. For one thing, it's practically doomed to have minimal effect. A 20-minute bus ride will transport any Bronx resident to neighboring Yonkers, where 18-year-olds would still be allowed to buy as many cartons as they wanted. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, nearly 90% of smokers

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: drugs; drugwar; pufflist; smoking; tobacco; warondrugs; wod; wodlist; wosd
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1 posted on 04/24/2013 2:44:50 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Now try rereading this essay, but in place of “tobacco” fill in the words “big soda pop.”

Then, for absolute veracity, reread it filling in the words, “Whatever Mayor Bloomberg feels he doesn’t like.”

America in the Twenty-first Century.


2 posted on 04/24/2013 2:48:20 PM PDT by Jack Hammer (American)
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To: nickcarraway; windcliff

I suggest a minimum IQ to hold political office.


3 posted on 04/24/2013 2:53:11 PM PDT by I Drive Too Fast
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To: nickcarraway

Bloomberg is a control freak. It is a personality disorder. He needs to seek help. (I hope he doesn’t have any guns since he is mentally imbalanced and all....)


4 posted on 04/24/2013 2:55:56 PM PDT by Girlene
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To: nickcarraway

Starting the countdown till the resident “CONSERVATIVE” (you know, those folks who profess to adhere to the constitution on matters of personal rights) nico-nazi’s join in...........


5 posted on 04/24/2013 2:59:06 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (This space for rent)
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To: nickcarraway
And can tobacco companies really be forced to put large graphic warnings on their own products to discourage customers from buying them?

Don't liberals want to do just that?
Replace "tobacco companies" with Planned Parenthood and see what they say.....

6 posted on 04/24/2013 2:59:33 PM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: nickcarraway

The problem is that too many people want the gov’t to be parent. Smoking, drinking porn, drugs, crappy food—the whole lot. Can’t people make up their minds not to do something even though it may not be banned or made illegal or some kind of a restriction put on it by the state?


7 posted on 04/24/2013 3:00:06 PM PDT by brooklyn dave (I hope the FEMA camps are comfortable when they come for me)
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To: nickcarraway
By the way, according to a recent anti-smoking ad I saw on TV, diabetes is now caused by smoking........

Lots of propaganda ads against smoking featuring gruesome vids going on these days. I wonder why the pro-life, aka ANTI-ABORTION, groups aren't allowed to air the same type of ad campaigns?..........I know, dumb question.

8 posted on 04/24/2013 3:02:57 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (This space for rent)
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To: nickcarraway

[[public officials walk a blurry line when they try to reduce smoking’s terrible toll.]]

They don’t weaqlk ANY line- they jumped clean across any line a long time ago and no logner care whether what they do is legal or constitutional or not- they are blatantly givign American citizens the middle finger because they learned that American will do NOTHING to prevent htem from vioalting our rights


9 posted on 04/24/2013 3:03:54 PM PDT by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: nickcarraway
As long as they lack the will to ban tobacco altogether...

Time to ban newspapers, altogether!

Before any of you bleeding heart smoker haters jump me, I don't smoke, but won't tell others they can't. Their business!

10 posted on 04/24/2013 3:12:24 PM PDT by Road Warrior ‘04 (Molon Labe! (Oathkeeper))
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To: nickcarraway
As thoroughly awful as everyone knows cigarettes to be — still the No. 1 cause of premature death in this country — public officials walk a blurry line when they try to reduce smoking's terrible toll.

Being a faggot shortens your lifespan more than smoking.

11 posted on 04/24/2013 3:16:23 PM PDT by MarineBrat (Better dead than red!)
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To: nickcarraway

Ok Doomberg...I call you on cigarettes and raise you voting until 21 years of age.

Further, I will re-raise your over 21 voters to land owner voters.


12 posted on 04/24/2013 3:16:44 PM PDT by Ouderkirk (The Government is actively preparing to go to War with a significant portion of its own Citizens.)
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To: nickcarraway

So if high tobacco taxes discourage smoking, what do high income taxes do?


13 posted on 04/24/2013 3:17:34 PM PDT by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad & lived with his parents most his life.)
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To: nickcarraway
still the No. 1 cause of premature death in this country

What number is homosexual sodomy? When is this jagov going to ban it?

14 posted on 04/24/2013 3:18:23 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: nickcarraway

Cigarette smugglers rejoice.


15 posted on 04/24/2013 3:21:27 PM PDT by Standing Wolf
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To: Ouderkirk

I was making a similar argument at work today with some nanny stater lovers. If an 18 year old isn’t responsible enough to make a personal decision such as smoking or having a beer, why do we let them vote for things affecting the entire nation?

Of course I know the answer. This enables the dems to win more elections due to the easily swayed age group coming from the mass indoctrination centers we commonly call schools and universities. It’s easy to convince young adults to vote for a seemingly Utopian society when they have no clue it can never happen.


16 posted on 04/24/2013 3:23:01 PM PDT by Dutch Boy
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To: Hot Tabasco

I had a smoke nazi try to tell me his best BFF died of prostate cancer because he smoked. I said he was either using his butt as an ashtray, or they were engaged in what some might call, non-traditional whoopee. Thought I was gonna have to leave a mark on the poofster to get him to calm down. Jeez they’re touchy.


17 posted on 04/24/2013 3:33:27 PM PDT by 5 Second Rule (I'm not talking about my food. I'm talking about my dates...)
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To: I Drive Too Fast
no problem, bloomturd HAS a minimum IQ...
18 posted on 04/24/2013 3:36:44 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: nickcarraway

Plan B for every female child!

Just don’t wash it down with a big soda or have a cig after sex.


19 posted on 04/24/2013 3:44:18 PM PDT by nascarnation (Baraq's economic policy: trickle up poverty)
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To: Hot Tabasco
That's the only reason I clicked on the thread. There's one Freeper that would ban tobacco if he were tyrant for a day.

In other news, my tobacco is growing great in the garden. ;)

/johnny

20 posted on 04/24/2013 3:58:41 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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