Menthol Cigarettes - Should be banned or nah? (1 Viewer)

Should Menthol cigs be banned?

  • Yes, we need to protect people from themselves

    Votes: 2 4.8%
  • Yes, they are more dangerous than other kinds

    Votes: 1 2.4%
  • No, menthol cig ban is racist

    Votes: 12 28.6%
  • No; my body, my choice

    Votes: 27 64.3%

  • Total voters
    42

tomwaits

Frontier Psychiatrist
Joined
Aug 1, 2002
Messages
17,394
Reaction score
8,304
Age
48
Location
Pflugerville, TX
Offline
What do you guys/girls think of the proposed menthol ban?
Anyone here smoke them?
 
I smoke, but rarely menthol. However, how can you justify banning one type of cigarette, but not all?
What I read is they say flavored cigs make them more palatable and help people get started smoking. The articles I read mentioned that minorities in particular tend to smoke menthols and banning menthols will help improve health in the minority communities.
 
What I read is they say flavored cigs make them more palatable and help people get started smoking. The articles I read mentioned that minorities in particular tend to smoke menthols and banning menthols will help improve health in the minority communities.
So, I guess I should change my pole answer to "menthol cig ban is racist."
 
It would be easier to just raise the tax on them high enough to cover the public cost of healthcare associated with the perils associated with smoking.

If you're dumb enough to smoke at $20 per pack then so be it as long as it funds treatment.
 
The only time I have ever smoked cigarettes was probably between when I was 18-22 and it was menthols because it would increase my high. Lucky for me I never smoked enough to get addicted.
 
I've never smoked (was around smokers for a lot of years), but from a purely aesthetic perspective, menthol is straight nasty. If I were ever to smoke, I'd rather something more typical of your run of the mill cigs.

That said, I'd much rather smoke weed if I would smoke anything at all.
 
It's peculiar, the things the government chooses to "save" us from.

10 Reasons Why the FDA Should Not Ban Menthol Cigarettes.


1. The majority of youth smokers don’t use menthol cigarettes

2. Black youth have lower rates of cigarette smoking than other groups.

3. Black adults smoke at a similar rate to white adults but the preferred products of white smokers aren’t targeted by the ban.


4. States with higher menthol consumption have lower youth smoking rates

5. Menthol prohibition will create illicit markets and more police interactions, especially in minority communities.

6. Menthol bans have a poor record of actually reducing smoking.


Massachusetts is the only U.S. state to have implemented a ban on all flavored tobacco products, which went into effect in June 2020. From June to November 2020, Massachusetts’ cigarette excise tax stamp sales fell 24 percent. Unfortunately, sales in nearby Rhode Island and New Hampshire rose 18 and 29.7 percent, respectively, compared to the same period in 2019. Massachusetts lost $62 million in cigarette excise tax revenue while Rhode Island and New Hampshire gained $14 and $28.5 million, respectively.

7. Menthol cigarettes are no more dangerous than non-menthol cigarettes.

Menthol cigarettes are no more safe or more dangerous than non-menthol cigarettes. In fact, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that menthol smokers’ risk of lung cancer was around 30 percent lower than non-menthol smokers. This lower risk of lung seen among menthol smokers is generally attributed to the fact that menthol smokers use fewer cigarettes a day than non-menthol smokers.

8. Menthol cigarettes are not more addictive than non-menthol cigarettes.

9. Menthol bans are unnecessary thanks to safer nicotine alternatives like e-cigarettes


10. Adults should be free to choose which cigarettes they smoke.


The harmful health effects of smoking are widely known. From education in middle and high school to warning labels on packets to public health information campaigns, the public is continually informed about the dangers of smoking. Excise taxes are imposed on cigarettes to account for the potential health costs smokers might impose on others and are used to deter consumption. Indoor smoking bans are widespread and smokers often suffer from being stigmatized.

If some people continue to smoke in spite of all these factors, they should be free to do so. Adults in a free society should be allowed to make their own calculations of costs and benefits when it comes to what they put in their bodies, so long as they are not harming others. To ban one type of cigarette, preferred mostly by black smokers, while allowing an equally deadly cigarette that’s preferred by the majority of Americas to still be sold is illiberal and violates the fundamental spirit of fairness.
 
I take it people who came up with this idea ever smoked. Cigarette smoking tastes like sheet and smells bad, until you get used to it. I don't think I know anyone who started smoking because it tasted good.

If anything, they should probably come up with a way to remove nicotine from tobacco. If that'd happen, it'd make cigarette smoking almost non-existent.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom