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News FDA Advances Ban on Menthol Cigarettes

Typical nanny state bullshit, served with more than a hint of condescending paternalism regarding the "race" issue. I haven't smoked in over a decade (and when I did, I didn't smoke menthols) but goddamn I hate crap like this...

Personally I think cigarettes are disgusting, it's one vice I had that I quit for good and have absolutely 0 desire to EVER return to...like, if an asteroid was about to collide with earth and exterminate all life on the planet, I don't think I'd even light one up then...but, if you wanna smoke, smoke! If you don't, don't! Take in the information that's out there about the dangers of smoking, make an informed choice and act on it! God do I hate the outlook of regulatory agencies when it comes to matters of "vice"...
 
thegreenhand said:
even if not intended to do so, this is another example of the war on drugs being used to systematically harm black people.

eric garner was killed over selling loosies. folks will likely have to smuggle menthols into the US if their sale is banned. another excuse for cops to abuse their power !
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What? Where is the connection between black people and menthol ciggies?

FFS...
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
What? Where is the connection between black people and menthol ciggies?

FFS...
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In america at least, black people use menthols more than white people do

From the CDC:

  • The majority of African Americans who smoke use menthol cigarettes.3
    • Seven out of 10 African American youth ages 12-17 who smoke use menthol cigarettes.6
    • A higher percentage of black adults who smoke started by using menthol cigarettes (93%) than white adults who smoke (44%).8
    • Non-Hispanic black adults have the highest percentage of menthol cigarette use compared to other racial and ethnic groups.6 In 2014-2015, 76.8% of non-Hispanic black adults who smoked usually used menthol cigarettes, compared to 34.7% of Hispanic adults and 24.6% of white adults.9
These groups likely have higher percentages of menthol cigarette smoking in part because the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed menthol products to young people and African Americans, especially in urban communities.3 From their research, tobacco manufacturers knew that young people preferred smaller amounts of menthol in their menthol cigarettes, while older people who smoke preferred more menthol. The tobacco companies purposely lowered the menthol in some of their brands to make young people who smoke and those just starting to smoke want to use them.1
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Menthol and Cigarettes | Smoking & Tobacco Use | CDC

Learn about menthol in cigarettes, including the danger they pose, and the groups of people at a high risk of getting tobacco-related disease.
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov
 
The emojis are xenforo autocorrecting “ % “ and “ ) “ next to each other into an emoji, so ignore that lol
 
thegreenhand said:
In america at least, black people use menthols more than white people do
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The main point is that young people tend to use menthol flavoured cigarettes and vape liquids more than their elders. Why does everything have to turn into a fuckin race issue in the US?
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
What? Where is the connection between black people and menthol ciggies?

FFS...
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It's just a hip thing nowadays, tying everything related to social/public policy back to issues related to systemic racial and/or gender oppression

NOT related to issues of socioeconomic status or class, though (except insofar as those issues can be connected back into an analysis of racial or gender oppression)...because that would raise very uncomfortable questions for the smug would-be do-gooders
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
The main point is that young people tend to use menthol flavoured cigarettes and vape liquids more than their elders. Why does everything have to turn into a fuckin race issue in the US?
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Well the ban wouldn’t affect e cigs so vape juice I believe would remain unaffected. B that’s just nit picky and really doesn’t matter, just wanted to point that out

And while they administration may be saying it’s for kids safety, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s gonna do anything to protect them. Most of the war on drugs (not even including anything with tobacco) can be framed as protecting kids but that doesn’t mean that drug war isn’t a race issue when we have massively disproportionate punishment for drug crimes across racial demographics

Burnt Offerings said:
It's just a hip thing nowadays, tying everything related to social/public policy back to issues related to systemic racial and/or gender oppression

NOT related to issues of socioeconomic status or class, though (except insofar as those issues can be connected back into an analysis of racial or gender oppression)...because that would raise very uncomfortable questions for the smug would-be do-gooders
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Was it hip to tie things back to segregation in the 1960s? Or perhaps that was simply one of the large issues of that era. In my opinion, the war on drugs was the evolution of segregation so it makes logical sense to tie issues of banning drugs back to racial oppression when that has been the effect of most drug war policies

I agree that a framing of socioeconomic class is unfortunately often left out in modern discussion, but I think it would be intellectually dishonest to say that race and socioeconomic class don’t overlap due to both past and current institutional racism
 
Any time they say they're protecting you, it's actually robbing you of a right.

The drug war was the original "my body, my choice" that robbed us of our own ability to try medicines (that may be deemed "controlled") for our own health benefits. Basically the end of medical bodily autonomy, but so many people were caught up and believed in the anti-drug propaganda that they allowed it to happen for their "own protection", kind of like quite a few other things I can think of.

It was also used an excuse to come after people of color & hippies & anyone they didn't like.
 
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thegreenhand said:
but that doesn’t mean that drug war isn’t a race issue when we have massively disproportionate punishment for drug crimes across racial demographics
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Well, that may be true in your country. I realise we started this shit, but you lot just won't let it go (and I mean the whites and the blacks here). We're trying to move on now...
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
Well, that may be true in your country. I realise we started this shit, but you lot just won't let it go (and I mean the whites and the blacks here). We're trying to move on now...
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I think pretty much every American (barring the fringe racial nationalist types) wants to move on too

But I’m not sure how effectively we can move on with the elephant still very much in the room
 
The drug war definitely has some roots in racism.

However, I think it became fair game for fucking over anybody, especially the poor. Which includes all colors of people.


I'm white & got in trouble for growing 3 baby weed plants in my early 20's. To make it short, they really fucked up my early 20's. Just when I had gotten myself & my feet planted (no pun intended), I then spent the next like 8 years trying to pay off a 10,000 dollar fine and court costs & was harassed for years for it. Did jail, probation, the whole nine-yards.

I only lucked out because the plants were babies & they had no relevant THC in them, so the labs came back inconclusive, which meant they couldn't slap me with manufacturing.

I also had a fascination with and for expressing myself through German WWII stuff, which was plastered everywhere. By today's standards, that should have gotten me a slap on the wrist since they were white LE, but I think it actually made me look worse, even though I'm gay and just have a unique personality. But for them, it was some one they could "justify" getting to harass for several years after. I couldn't even take walks outside in that town anymore without constantly getting pulled over and asked what I was doing.

I also ended up getting heavily dependent on opioids too since I wasn't able to smoke weed for an entire year.

If we make it solely a race issue, it's kind of ignoring the fact that it can happen to anybody & frequently does.
 
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DeathIndustrial88 said:
The drug war definitely has some roots in racism.

However, I think it became fair game for fucking over anybody, especially the poor. Which includes all colors of people.
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Yes, to a certain extent. But the so called drug war was the result of Harry J Anslinger fearing for his career after the repeal of prohibition and using the blacks as a scapegoat. As a result, the 'war on drugs' eventually became worldwide, but without the racial connotations.

Now you fuckers are legalising weed left right and centre. Hypocrisy? Fuck yeh!
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
Yes, to a certain extent. But the so called drug war was the result of Harry J Anslinger fearing for his career after the repeal of prohibition and using the blacks as a scapegoat. As a result, the 'war on drugs' eventually became worldwide, but without the racial connotations.

Now you fuckers are legalising weed left right and centre. Hypocrisy? Fuck yeh!
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I agree!

An even more insane thing is I live in a state that it's illegal. lol So one state is just totally fine & the others will tear you apart for it. It's lunacy.

Half the time or maybe even more than that, the punishment affects the person worse than the drugs even did.
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
The elephant is still very much in the room because the elephant never forgets.

That's the problem.
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well im not even sure it’s that the elephant doesn’t forget. we should recognize the elephant and be honest about its existence

the problem imo is that a large chunk of people won’t acknowledge the elephant is even there

my very hardcore Trump supporting uncle said to me once that he thinks the root of most racial problems in America is that after segregation ended, we still never fully taught our children the depths of how dark our country’s history has been. And that it’s those unacknowledged ghosts still haunting us today. As much i disagree with many of his political positions, I think we has spot on with that analysis

DeathIndustrial88 said:
If we make it solely a race issue, it's kind of ignoring the fact that it can happen to anybody & frequently does.
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100% agree. I wasn’t trying to imply that it is solely a race issue. It affects everyone, and I’m sorry you had to go through that.

In that post I was more so trying to refute that claim framing aspects of the drug war through a race lens is somehow virtue signaling.
 
thegreenhand said:
well im not even sure it’s that the elephant doesn’t forget. we should recognize the elephant and be honest about its existence

the problem imo is that a large chunk of people won’t acknowledge the elephant is even there

my very hardcore Trump supporting uncle said to me once that he thinks the root of most racial problems in America is that after segregation ended, we still never fully taught our children the depths of how dark our country’s history has been. And that it’s those unacknowledged ghosts still haunting us today. As much i disagree with many of his political positions, I think we has spot on with that analysis


100% agree. I wasn’t trying to imply that it is solely a race issue. It affects everyone, and I’m sorry you had to go through that.

In that post I was more so trying to refute that claim framing aspects of the drug war through a race lens is somehow virtue signaling.
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No worries! Makes sense, cause it's true! Racism was a part of it when it began and probably is still in some specific instances.
 
It's just occurred to me that if it hadn't been for alcohol prohibition in the first place, then the recreational use of other substances may not have become so prevalent.
 
Hell we had heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, morphine, etc.. OTC in the 1900's & I didn't read about any societal collapses stemming from it then.

But I do keep reading about new ultra super potent synthetic opioids that are killing people who probably would have been fine & alive had they been able to get actual heroin at the store instead.
 
DeathIndustrial88 said:
Hell we had heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, morphine, etc.. OTC in the 1900's & I didn't read about any societal collapses stemming from it then.
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Exactly. There weren't any societal problems when your DOC was readily and cheaply available from your corner chemists shop. This all changed with alcohol prohibition. Recreational use of other substances skyrocketed, then when prohibition was repealed, racist cunts such as Harry Anslinger suddenly finding themselves out of a job, used the whole reefer madness bollocks to demonise blacks especially, and drugs in general.
 
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