Posted on 01/24/2013 11:19:29 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
SALEM, OR (KPTV) - If you're a regular smoker, you may want to keep an eye on a new bill in the Oregon Legislature.
Rep. Mitch Greenlick, from Portland, is sponsoring a bill that makes cigarettes a Schedule III controlled substance, meaning it would be illegal to possess or distribute cigarettes without a doctor's prescription.
Under the proposal, offenders would face maximum punishments of one year in prison, a $6,250 fine or both.
Other drugs and substances that are considered Schedule III controlled substances are ketamine, lysergic acid and anabolic steroids.
"The State Board of Pharmacy may adopt rules placing requirements and limitations on the sale or transfer of products containing nicotine," the bill's text says.
"I think it's pretty crazy," said Juan Silva of Salem. "I don't see it going through. It's going to be something to watch for, but I don't think it'll pass."
Others see the proposal differently.
"I hope it passes and I hope people actually think about it," said Rick Cannon of Salem. "You know there's less and less smokers everyday because they know how bad it is for them, so I just hope people wake up and realize how bad it actually is for them."
Greenlick also made headlines this week by suggesting a state committee look into the hiring procedure used by the University of Oregon when it named Mark Helfrich the new Ducks head coach.
More money for the blackmarket. More crime for everyone.
In high tax states, tobacco has become the number 1 smuggled item. Its at the top of the list here in Michigan but its also smuggled out of Michigan to Canada where the tax is even higher.
Legalizing and taxing pot won’t take the profit out of it.
More money for the blackmarket. More crime for everyone.
EGGS-zactly. Look what Mayor Bloomingidiot in NYC is doing with cigarrette taxes....
HOW MAYOR BLOOMBERG FUNDS AL QAEDA
New York has the highest cigarette tax rate of any state, and nearly two-thirds of the state’s cigarette market is illegal, announced the think tank Tax Foundation on Thursday.
In New York City the tax rate is even higher, adding another $1.50 per pack to the state rate. It’s not uncommon for smokers to pay $12 for a pack.
Large scale cigarette smuggling networks in New York State are dominated by tight knit nationality-based networks, primarily families through blood or marriage of Lebanese, Yemeni, Jordanian and Palestinian descent.
Federal and New York State law enforcement officials estimate that nearly 60 percent of all convenience retail outlets in New York City are now Arab-owned, and with the Arab networks compartmentalized by ethnicity and family ties, the risk of infiltration by law enforcement is minimal.
In total, law enforcement officials in New York State estimate that well-organized cigarette smuggling networks generate between $200,000 – $300,000 per week. A large percentage of the money is believed to be sent back to the Middle East where it directly or indirectly finances groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda.
...maybe they can get into large sodas next.
3 Out of 5 Cigarettes Sold in State With Highest Cigarette Taxes are Smuggled
We all want the State to decide (that’s what supporting marijuana criminalization means), so the State is deciding.
A thriving black market and the attendant crime is no reason to end a prohibition. At least that’s what the Drug Warriors say.
I thought that we tried prohibition once.
Remind me again, how did that work out?
Has nothing to do with controlling your behavior and everything to do with making you into a profit center. It’s all about the fines, fees, penalties, and taxes.
So if I were to visit from out of state how would I get a prescription ? I drive in from the communist hellhole I live in now, to that Marxist loonie bin and I need a cigarette.
I would need to have my smokes have a script label on the instead of a tax stamp ?
Not to mention cutting off the supply of Newport Menthols to certain neighborhoods could result in Civil Unrest.
When legal smokes are $12 per pack it means the smugglers can charge $10 and make a killing.
So if they passed this and some hapless tourist lit up, they could be fined and imprisoned? Sounds like Oregon has finally come up with a way to keep Californians out! It will never happen, the hippies like to light up too much!
I usually spend a couple of weeks there every year visiting my daughter, I was wondering the same thing.
I can't wait to see their requirements and limitations on tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplant -- let alone all the Nicorette gum being peddled by the people behind such idiot ideas.
They just legalized driving stoned in Colorado. No measuring of content to convict them (works with alcohol cases)—only proof of obvious impairment (doesn’t work with most alcohol cases).
They get more in taxes if it’s legal than if it’s sold in the blackmarket. And if they have to spend money housing this new criminal class in prison it’s a losing proposition. Next thing you know the prisons are overcrowded and they have to let the murderers and rapists out early.
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers — and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system.”
Quote by: Ayn Rand
(1905-1982) Author
Source: “Atlas Shrugged”, Part II, Chapter 3
I guess this might apply to cigars, pipe tobacco, and chewing tobacco too?
Never did I ever imagine (before now) that the simple act of sitting on my own back porch, smoking a pipe of tobacco, just like great-grandpa used to do, minding my own damned business and not bothering anyone, would be such a big concern of The State.
One thing I did notice is how a lot of this sh-t started bursting from the woodwork after Obama got elected. I guess the Revolution is here.
“I usually spend a couple of weeks there every year visiting my daughter, I was wondering the same thing.”
Me too! I better get them moved in to my neighborhood!
Just switch to merrywana and you won’t need a Rx.
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