McConnell proposes raising the tobacco age to 21

[darklordoftech]

Hopefully this is a first step towards a full tobacco ban!

F**k no.

Nobody thinks that tobacco is safe or healthy, and if people want to use it in spite of knowing all the negative effects, that's on them and the Government should allow them to do so.

Wrong. Tobacco is one of the key drivers of Medicare costs. Anybody who smokes is selfishly freeloading on the government dole.

Then why haven't any of the countries with single-payer healthcare done this already?

[darklordoftech]

Kentucky produces more tobacco than any other state besides North Carolina.

Why does Mitch McConnell want to declare a WAR ON TOBACCO that will KILL KENTUCKY JOBS?!

He might be saying, "Give my campaign money if you don't want me to do this."

[darklordoftech]

Might this result in more underage drinking because people under 21 would no longer have an alternative?

[darklordoftech]

Does South Dakota v. Dole allow for a federal tobacco age, or would they be unable to find something tobacco-related to deny funds for?

[darklordoftech]

Hopefully this is a first step towards a full tobacco ban!

F**k no.

Nobody thinks that tobacco is safe or healthy, and if people want to use it in spite of knowing all the negative effects, that's on them and the Government should allow them to do so.

Wrong. Tobacco is one of the key drivers of Medicare costs. Anybody who smokes is selfishly freeloading on the government dole.

This is why single payer is bad. It leaves the mentality that the government owns your body. Also people who smoke die earlier so they actually waste less medicare money.

Without single-payer, they'll claim that the insurance companies should own your body. You can't appease people who think that others are a burden on them.

[darklordoftech]

Lol at all the people in this thread who think raising the age is gonna stop 18-21 people from smoking.  This will just raise the demand and I guarantee won't make it harder for those who actually want to

Well it probably will cut the numbers. Previous raises in the age of purchase have resulted in cuts in young people taking up the practice

What previous raises are you referring to?

[darklordoftech]

OK, possibly dumb question, but I thought tobacco ages were determined by the states. Is McConnell trying to do what the federal government did in the 80s to compel the states to raise the drinking age to 21? (Raise the drinking age or lose your highway funds)

He hasn't said what the mechanism will be for enforcing a federal age. There's also the possibility that he's making an empty threat to get the tobacco companies to give more money to his campaign.

[darklordoftech]

OK, possibly dumb question, but I thought tobacco ages were determined by the states. Is McConnell trying to do what the federal government did in the 80s to compel the states to raise the drinking age to 21? (Raise the drinking age or lose your highway funds)

There's two federal tobacco age laws: There's the Synar Amendment, which denies substance abuse funds to states with a tobacco age under 18, and there's the FDA ban on sales to people under 18. Both only regulate sales to people, not possession. The very act that gives the FDA the power to regulate tobacco forbids it from age-restricting tobacco to a higher age.

[darklordoftech]

I wonder how the 2020 candidates feel about this.

[darklordoftech]

Is this thread from 1996?

Nobody was talking about raising the tobacco age to 21 in 1996.

[darklordoftech]

It’s insane how authoritarian you all are. The idea that most of you think legal adults shouldn’t be able to smoke a legal drug is beyond me.

I think it's less authoritarianism and moor just a want for consistency. If you can't buy pot or alcohol until you're 21, it only makes sense to apply it to tabacco as well.

Uh... no. There's actual science to the alcohol age being 21 as it relates to brain development. Setting that age for nicotine is just blasphemy. Nicotine is harmless in vape form, except for the potential for addiction, which is a decision adults should be able to make themselves.

More importantly, nicotine doesn't make people more dangerous drivers while alcohol does.

[darklordoftech]

I wonder how AOC feels about this.

[darklordoftech]

Typically for McConnell, there is an ulterior motive for this.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/28/mitch-mcconnell-smoking-age-tobacco-companies-1376631

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s push to raise the legal smoking age to 21 sounds like a victory for public health. But anti-tobacco advocates fear McConnell and the tobacco industry may use the bill to block other, more proven measures to reduce youth smoking.

McConnell pledged last week to introduce legislation to raise the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21, calling it a "top priority" when the Senate returns from recess in late April. The move quickly drew surprising enthusiasm from cigarette and vaping manufacturers, who pledged to throw their considerable weight behind his initiative.

But in some states, legislation to raise the age to buy tobacco-related products has supplanted flavor bans, which would cut into the profits of industry giants like Altria and Juul. The industry-backed bills also have halted broader pushes to bar menthol cigarettes or boost state taxes enough to dissuade potential smokers. Some would even exempt tobacco products that aren't yet on the market.

"They are turning these tobacco 21 bills into Trojan horses," said John Schachter, director of state communications for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "The industry is positioning tobacco 21 as the only thing that needs to be done on tobacco prevention," but "tobacco 21 needs to be a complement" to other measures, he said.

In the 90s, Big Tobacco supported a federal tobacco age of 18 in order to stop the lawsuits against them, advertising restrictions, and FDA regulation.

[darklordoftech]

Here's the bill:

https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/editorialfiles/2019/05/20/T21.pdf

I wonder how a Secretary of Health and Human and Services-enforced age would interact with an FDA-enforced age.

[darklordoftech]

An update on this: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/mcconnell-bill-to-raise-legal-smoking-age-to-21-to-get-vote-in-senate-panel