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Posted on 06/11/2009 5:02:31 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Arizona Sen. John McCain voted for a bill Thursday allowing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco, while fellow Sen. Jon Kyl said no.
The bill would give the FDA the power to regulate tobacco and cigarettes for the first time.
The Senate voted 79 to 17 Thursday for the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
President Barack Obama supports the bill. Obama and Congress approved a large increase to the federal tobacco tax earlier this year to fund expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health coverage to uninsured minors.
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Worthless bastards, all of them.
They are going after tax revenues. Smokers will have to buy more cigarettes when they lower the nicotine levels, thus putting more money into the tax coffers.
And thus McVain once again expands his BFF, Big Government.
Empowering the FDA is a pretty scary prospect. Sure, regulate tobacco because it’s “bad for you”. Innocent, right? Then they’ll come after fatty meats and sugary cereals. And then we’ll only be able to get foods from the State Approved diet, with whole grain bread at $15 bucks a loaf. Just watch.
Here's my take on it. Who smokes cigarettes the most? Gang-bangers, prison inmates, and low-income folks. What do you think is going to happen when cigarettes get priced out of reach? It'll be de-facto criminalized and become another source for crime. Not to mention many convenience stores will close in inner-cities.
That is exactly right...the government wants to extract the last pound of flesh. I thank G-d that I don’t smoke, but have sympathy for those that do. They are being raped by the government and demonized at the same time.
He DID?! NO!!
Jews warned us but we wouldn't listen. Smokers warned us but we wouldn't listen. Gunowners and fatties next.
Our society has gone collectively insane.
On a national level, government is hell-bent to pursue a deadly addiction, taxes, which is just as fatal as any other addiction; for the children, of course.
At the same time, it anguishes about saving millions of lives by taxing and regulating tobacco further. Does anyone else fail to see the connection?
WHY NOT OUTLAW TOBACCO ALTOGETHER?
Not only will the problem be totally solved, but the hundreds of millions$ would not need to be spent on more bureaucracies to oversee, regulate, and control a deadly substance.
Why doesn't that happen?
You can't have it both ways.
The trucks that make deliveries to convenience stores carry mucho bucks worth of cigarettes. I'd have to bet those trucks get hijacked often enough to keep a fair amount of the users you named supplied. As taxes go up, hijackings will happen even more often and more otherwise-honest people will support the criminal enterprises instead of buying their cigarettes legally.
Net effect is to drive more people into choosing a life of supporting or becoming criminals.
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