[BigSteve]

This story is several months old, but I'm just hearing about it now.

Apparently, Mitch McConnell and Tim Kaine have introduced a bill which would raise the legal smoking age to 21 from 18.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I started smoking in 1977, when I was 15 years old. I finally quit in 2012; January 16 will be my 8 year anniversary. While I think it's good to keep cigarettes out of the hands of children, I think if we're going to raise the age to buy cigarettes to 21, then we should probably look at raising the minimum age to 21 for a bunch of things; things like voting, enlisting in the military, etc.

We know nictotine is addictive. I know when I was 18 I was definitely hooked. It seems pretty preposterous to me to suddenly raise the legal age to 21, thereby making people (technically) criminals by virtue of the fact that they've been using a product which has been perfectly legal for some time, and which is known to have addictive properties.

When all is said and done, I think the legal age for smoking should remain 18.

What say you?

[late]

I bet the motivation behind this has a lot to do with e-cigarettes.

I started smoking when I was 13, one of the stupidest moves I ever made. I have no problem at all with raising the age to 21, and I see no reason to link this to other age dependent things, like military service.

Well, with the exception of other recreational drugs, you could make an argument there.

The interesting thing here is that both McConnell and Kaine come from states that grow tobacco. That could mean any of several different things, but I'll be keeping half an eye out for an explanation.


https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/congress-raise-federal-age-buy-tobacco-21-spending/story?id=67755968

[late]

Found it.

"But multiple anti-smoking groups have raised concerns about McConnell's bill and the industry's support for the legislation. One concern for these groups is that the legislation will stave off tougher regulations on vaping, particularly regulations on flavored e-cigarettes.

"It's a Jedi mind trick," says Sharon Eubanks, who led the Justice Department's landmark racketeering case against the industry.

E-cigarette companies want to avoid liability for the youth vaping epidemic, says Eubanks, and "the industry's support for such measures gets them off the hook."

McConnell is "covering for them," says Dr. David Kessler, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration."

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/17/730496066/tobaccos-special-friend-what-internal-documents-say-about-mitch-mcconnell

[SSDR]

There should be no tobacco age.

[Drlee]

When all is said and done, I think the legal age for smoking should remain 18.

What say you?

Yes. And that should be the legal age for drinking too. It is preposterous that a soldier at the age of 20 can be a sergeant and lead a dozen men into combat but not have a cigarette or beer with them when they get back. The military has raised the drinking age on bases to 21 which is appalling.

So I agree. If someone is too immature to smoke at 18 they are not mature enough to carry a machine gun into combat. If they can't be trusted with a beer they should not be trusted with a car. So we should raise the driving age to 21 also.

The truth is what @late said. This is an industry protection bill. Nothing more. What are the chances that Moscow Mitch would do anything to protect the health of the people? He has been trying to take away their health insurance for many years. As for Pence....I guess someone woke him up. That was unkind. Let the poor man sleep.

[BigSteve]

Yes. And that should be the legal age for drinking too. It is preposterous that a soldier at the age of 20 can be a sergeant and lead a dozen men into combat but not have a cigarette or beer with them when they get back. The military has raised the drinking age on bases to 21 which is appalling.

So I agree. If someone is too immature to smoke at 18 they are not mature enough to carry a machine gun into combat. If they can't be trusted with a beer they should not be trusted with a car. So we should raise the driving age to 21 also.

The truth is what @late said. This is an industry protection bill. Nothing more. What are the chances that Moscow Mitch would do anything to protect the health of the people?

You were doing so well, too, right up until you blame it all on McConnell.

Kaine Bill

He has been trying to take away their health insurance for many years.

How?

What I think is most pathetic here is how the left is going after McConnell, as they see him as trying to protect the tobacco industry, but on one on the left is saying a word about Kaine, who they're letting off the hook for saying, essentially, "It's about the kids"......

[Drlee]

Sigh.

Ok sport. Here is an article that shows that I am not the only one suspicious.

McConnell's announcement was met with praise by giants in the tobacco industry, who say they support the age increase. "By raising the minimum age to 21, no high school student will be able to purchase tobacco products legally, adding another hurdle to help reduce social access," Altria said in a press release.

Yet some members of the anti-smoking community are skeptical about what's really going on.

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, says the organization does not yet have a position on McConnell's legislation because it has not seen the bill. But Myers said he is concerned that tobacco companies are attempting to include special-interest provisions that would hinder protections for kids.
Juul Builds Lobbying Clout In Washington
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Juul Builds Lobbying Clout In Washington

"Congress must not allow tobacco companies to use Tobacco 21 legislation as a Trojan horse for provisions that benefit the industry at the expense of kids and public health," he tells NPR by email.

He says tobacco companies have worked to include state provisions that limit the regulation of tobacco products, including flavored tobacco products.

At the federal level, a provision introduced by Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., would allow certain items, such as the heated tobacco product IQOS, to be classified as vapor products, thereby evading stronger regulations than cigarettes.

Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco, tells NPR that tobacco companies are trying to "co-opt" a movement to protect kids. "They try to get in front of it by introducing bad legislation that preempts good legislation to make it look like they're supporting a pro-health situation," he says.
Surgeon General Warns Youth Vaping Is Now An 'Epidemic'
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Surgeon General Warns Youth Vaping Is Now An 'Epidemic'

Glantz says provisions backed by tobacco companies can criminalize youth for buying tobacco products instead of retailers that sell them the products, while other provisions have meaningless implementation language that makes the laws harder to enforce.

"To bring McConnell in, that's like the super, biggest gun you could bring in," he says.

Philip Morris International tells NPR it has applications pending before the Food and Drug Administration to commercialize its product IQOS in the U.S. "Increasing the legal age of purchase for tobacco and nicotine products can play an important role in further guarding against youth use of such products," spokesperson Ryan Sparrow says. "However, that process must first begin with companies themselves."
Altria Buys 35 Percent Stake In E-Cigarette Maker Juul
Business
Altria Buys 35 Percent Stake In E-Cigarette Maker Juul

A spokesperson for Juul, a popular e-cigarette, tells NPR in a written statement that the company supports "category-wide actions to reverse the trend in youth use, while preserving this unprecedented opportunity for adult smokers, and we will continue to work with federal, state and local policymakers in a transparent and collaborative fashion to achieve that goal."

Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA, has taken a major stake in Juul.

In an email, an Altria spokesperson says the company backs "straight-forward tobacco 21 bills. ... We remain fully committed to pursuing this legislative goal without condition."

McConnell's state, Kentucky, has one of the highest cancer mortality rates in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Along with West Virginia, Kentucky also has the highest rates of death linked to smoking.

The senator says the bill will uphold the current system, which makes retailers responsible for verifying the age of anyone who buys tobacco. The measure will also have an exemption for members of the military, something that anti-tobacco groups have urged Congress not to offer.

If he does not add industry protections I will be very surprised. And, unlike you, I will admit that I was wrong. We'll see.

As for your absurd question about how Moscow Mitch is trying to take away health care. He voted over 40 times to repeal the PPACA without a replacement on the table. I could go on about his recent cuts to Medicaid but I honestly do not believe you give a shit. Whatever these guys say is fine with you.

As for Tim Kane. Let's see the final bill before we give him a pass. I do not trust him any further than I could throw him.

[Stormsmith]

May I just say that up here, in the great white north, it's been long acknowledged that cigarettes cause cancer, and it's frequently deadly, but they are easy to buy legally. But a prescription is required to buy :
nortriptyline
bupropion (also known as Zyban)
varenicline (also known as Champix

You'd think the Govt would give them to you, and wave the costs.

[BigSteve]

As for Tim Kane. Let's see the final bill before we give him a pass.

Your gross hypocrisy is noted...