Cough, Cough...

The FDA has decided to take it upon their authority to ban all flavored cigarette products sold in the United States. Interestingly enough, menthol flavored cigarettes are the one and only exception to this ban. It’s an act targeted at removing a gateway currently used to, I don’t know, “fool?” children and young adults into becoming regular smokers.

It’s a huge piece of bullshit, though… The government can throw out numbers (pulled usually directly out of their butts) showing how this ban is going to save billions and billions of lives, right? So what?! All this is in reality is one more freedom being stripped away from the American citizen. It’s just another case where those that can have decided to mandate their own personal ideology onto those they regard as too stupid to think for themselves. Not to mention that I don’t even think it’s even indisputably legal.

Tobacco, even with its heinous image in modern society, is still a legally marketed substance. Even with this latest ban, anybody of age (what is it now, over 18???) can still legally walk into a convenience store and purchase any number of cigarettes he wishes to purchase – as long as they’re not flavored.

Now the chemicals that are currently being used to add a little “flavor” to these cigarettes are also completely legal to use. I’m positive that you will find these same “artificial flavorings” in any number of other food items being sold today. Put the two together and suddenly the FDA has the right to say that you can’t sell the resulting flavored cigarettes? Umm, why???

The argument is that this magical flavoring of tobacco makes tobacco products more desirable to children and young adults. However true this statement is – and it sounds like nothing more than pure speculation to me – it’s still not a valid reason to completely (except for menthol flavored – I guess some exceptions are justifiable?) ban a product. Hell, you can even throw out the “young adults” portion of the reasoning since young adults are defined to be at least 18 years of age and are therefore old enough to purchase tobacco if they so choose. The argument now becomes something about these flavored cigarettes being a gateway for children to become regular smokers; however children are already banned from purchasing tobacco products by their age alone…

So let’s just call a spade a spade here and admit that the purpose of this ban is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to force a viewpoint about the evils of tobacco into everybody’s mind with a law. We can continue to dance around the actual law of banning tobacco completely by creating more laws that make it harder and harder for someone to legally enjoy a smoke; however I’m just waiting for the actual ax to fall where the “know betters” finally do the smokers of this country a huge favor and completely outlaw this vice they are too stupid to quit on their own. After all, in this “land of the free”, it’s best not to let the citizens choose what freedoms they get. We’re all far too stupid for that…

Another interesting aspect about this newly adopted ban is exactly who it’s going to hurt. It will, in no way, hurt the “Big Tobacco” industry. They’ve even gone so far as to exclude the one flavoring (menthol) that the big boys even use. No … those that are going to be hurt by this are the somewhat smaller companies (the ones that aren’t financing political careers as much as the big boys) currently selling clove and flavored cigarettes to niche markets. It’s also going to give the FDA some precedence required for them to start making wider and wider bans on various other forms of so-called “alternative” nicotine delivery systems. I’m thinking the vaporizers (i.e. Green Smoke) will be feeling some pain soon; they rely on flavors as a way to separate themselves from competition.

Putting capitalism aside, I believe the political ramifications alone from this latest ban should scare the shit out of every freedom loving American. As I mentioned above, they (the FDA) are banning the combination of legal substances to enhance the appeal (for some, I personally am not a fan of flavored cigarettes…) of one of those substances based on shaky assumptions. Not only is the “gateway” argument purely speculative; it’s a pre-defined set of values getting prescribed to all through the enactment of a law. How long before all of our freedoms become sanitized to a point where we’re merely free to behave as our government has mandated?

bis später,

Coriolis

I'm Sorry ... You Are???

Here’s an interesting tidbit of information: Several studies have shown a direct correlation between smoking and decreased performance in memory (specifically with names and faces) as well as verbal memory. And I’m not talking about smoking ganja here – tobacco has this negative effect as well. I guess that explains quite a bit about me … and here I thought that it might have been that closed head injury I went through. Guess not…

But wait – I seem to recall not being able to remember names and faces since long before I started smoking. Here’s a thought: Maybe poor memory (specifically with names and faces) somehow leads to smoking. Sure, why not? It’s a viable argument. Whenever there’s a social gathering of some sort, the guy that is constantly confronted with the awkward situation of not being able to remember people’s names time and time again decides, “Fuck it! I need a smoke…”

I can see it now, the new ad campaign for cigarettes – “You’re invited to a party with several of your not-so-close friends – the one’s you’ve met (often times on several occasions) but never actually ‘hung out’ with. They approach you, one by one, and greet you by name. After enduring the non-stop torture of coming up with generic labels to respond with – ‘hey buddy’ … ‘how’s it going, my man’ … ‘what up, cuz’ – you begin to break down. Fuck it! Let the calming effects of {insert brand name} cigarettes take you away…”

Of course, these days, you get the added benefit of being left alone as well. You’ll have to go outside (smoking inside any building – public or private – has most definitely gone the way of the dinosaurs) and you can bet that very few will be joining you on your trip. Those that do, or those that have already gathered outside, won’t be a problem either as there’s a good chance they’re in the same boat. You can expect a few minutes of exclusively nameless small-talk before having to return to the named. I call this time “my little peace”…

So maybe the way to quit smoking is to work on improving your memory. We don’t need any gums or patches – those don’t give you the advantages of “my little peace” – what we need are easily accomplishable memory exercises. We need to learn simple techniques that can improve our name and face recognition. It would also be nice if these routines were easily obtainable – perhaps in packs of 20… Ahh, fuck it … I need a smoke…

bis später,

Coriolis