Banning Menthol Cigs….wut?

The FDA is Moving to Ban Menthol-Flavored Cigarettes

The geniuses at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) think what we really ought to be focusing on right now is banning menthol-flavored cigarettes.

“Banning menthol—the last allowable flavor—in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products,” Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said. “With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products.”

There are a few major problems with this ban.

Of course, smoking cigarettes is bad for your health, increasing the risk of lung cancer, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. But these risks are public knowledge. Adults have the right to weigh costs and benefits and make their own decisions about what they do with their bodies. In particular, it’s condescending to claim that racial minorities and LGBT people are incapable of deciding things for themselves and need the government to be their nanny.

Last year, America saw widespread concern over Americans dying and getting sick from black-market THC vaping products, which only exist due to existing marijuana prohibition laws. Nothing similar has occurred with legal market vaping products. We would likely see something similarly dangerous happen with popular menthol-flavored cigarettes if the FDA goes through with its ban. By trying to save lives, the feds could open the door to other deaths.

The American Civil Liberties Union warns that “such a ban will trigger criminal penalties, which will disproportionately impact people of color, as well as prioritize criminalization over public health and harm reduction.” For a supposedly progressive administration, this makes little sense.

As Reason Foundation Director of Consumer Freedom Guy Bentley notes, similar bans in the European Union, Canada, and Massachusetts all had only small impacts on smoking reduction.

For more on this, read Bentley’s full analysis: 10 Reasons Why the FDA Should Not Ban Menthol Cigarettes