As RedState has reported in quite a few articles (see “Associated” under), the Biden administration is wrestling mightily with whether or not to ban menthol cigarettes beginning in 2021.
As has been the case in most, if not all, of Joe Biden’s selections, a proposed ban on menthol is much less concerning the potential public well being advantages of banning mint-flavored cigarettes and extra concerning the potential fallout for each black and Hispanic communities. .
About 81 p.c of black people who smoke smoked menthol in 2020, together with 51 p.c of Hispanic people who smoke, in comparison with simply 30 p.c of white people who smoke, in keeping with a Wall Avenue Journal evaluation of knowledge from the Nationwide Survey on Drug Use and Well being.
In different phrases, it is about voting.
So, in keeping with the Journal’s report, the administration was anticipated to announce Friday that it was delaying a choice on whether or not to impose sanctions, claiming it wanted extra time to seek the advice of with outdoors teams on the matter — with no particular deadline for reconsideration. resolution, because the November presidential election looms nearer and nearer.
I chuckled on the “want extra time to seek the advice of with outdoors teams” nonsense. Actually? Essentially the most incompetent, politically pushed administration in fashionable historical past has been “consulting with outdoors teams” on whether or not to ban menthol cigarettes since Biden entered the White Home.
The fact is that solely the “outdoors group” Biden and his administration are involved about are political polls and focus teams and the attainable alienation of minority voters in November if a confused president pulls the set off on menthols.
This is extra:
Biden administration in 2021 Prohibition started to observe Concerning menthol cigarettes, coverage motion will scale back youth initiation, enhance give up charges for people who smoke, and eradicate well being disparities amongst individuals of shade. The plan was a part of the administration’s Most cancers Moonshot initiative to cut back most cancers deaths.
The Meals and Drug Administration was anticipated to undertake a brand new rule final yr to ban menthol, however the plan was delayed because the White Home mentioned its political repercussions.
Some black group leaders fought the measure, saying the ban would develop the unlawful cigarette market and lead police to racially profile black people who smoke. Some members of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Congressional Black Caucus expressed related issues.
Let’s assume for the sake of argument {that a} ban on menthol would, in reality, scale back the variety of youths who take up smoking, enhance the success fee of people who smoke attempting to give up, and eradicate well being disparities amongst individuals of shade. In that case, ought to “the entire above” kick in for concern of an administration shedding votes in November?
In the meantime, in keeping with the Journal, a Canadian research estimated the results of the US ban on menthol:
A research by the College of Waterloo in Canada, which evaluated bans on menthol cigarettes in Canada and the European Union, estimated that the US ban on menthol cigarettes would power 1.3 million people who smoke to give up, together with 380,000 black people who smoke within the first 4. 23 months after the ban got here into power.
It is also value noting that California and Massachusetts have enacted their very own bans on menthols, together with greater than 100 municipalities throughout the nation.
And naturally that leads us to Joe Biden and his equally incompetent administration.
Backside line
I do not smoke. Consequently, I haven’t got a canine within the battle, a technique or one other. However this is the factor:
The “nanny state” or “authorities overreach” argument—which is legitimate—in opposition to the ban on menthol cigarettes, that the federal authorities’s resolution to ban or ban a product primarily based on public well being issues needs to be primarily based solely on well being deserves, not on potential vote numbers, is a controversial presidential argument. Worth will be, whose handlers stick their moist fingers within the air to find out which political winds are blowing.
Associated:
So, It is Not About Well being: Biden Delays Menthol Cig Ban Fearing Black Backlash
Make smoking nice once more
Biden’s plan to ban menthol cigarettes is nanny state nonsense
