AMA agrees that menthol should not be banned from cigarettes

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Associated Press

CHICAGO - The country's largest organization of doctors Tuesday refused to challenge a controversial tobacco bill that would ban many flavor additives in cigarettes sold in the United States but exempt menthol flavoring.

Under a bill before Congress that gives control of tobacco products to the Food and Drug Administration, flavor additives such as mint, clove and vanilla, which appeal to young people, would be banned, but menthol flavoring would be allowed.

Menthol is preferred by more than 75 percent of black smokers, according to government estimates. Fewer than 25 percent of whites smoke it.

The menthol exemption has been challenged by many prominent health figures including seven former health secretaries who sent a letter to lawmakers voicing opposition to the menthol exemption.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/sfl-618menthol,0,4985534.story

[Mountainman]

1. Nicotine addiction can occur without flavors. If you now smoke menthols you won't stop smoking

because they no longer make them. I think this is another one of those feel good laws. Why do we insist on making laws that don't change the outcomes?

[Shadowsmith]

2. Prevention not cure

Well in this case the idea is to cut down on new smokers, not to get current smokers to stop.

[Mountainman]

4. We tax the hell out of them, raise the price, make them harder to get and people still smoke.

Why not go all the way and make them illegal?

[TomInTib]

6. I would.

I smoke Kool in the box, the strongest menthol cigarettes I can find around here.

And I would definitely quit if they were no longer available.

But I only smoke two or three a day, and only when I'm drinking or stoned or both (which happens to be every day).

[Mountainman]

15. In the 60's it was cool to smoke Kools. I use to smoke them then.

Just went to the person behind the counter and said "pac kools"

[dysfunctional press]

20. "who's been putting out their kools on my rug?"

[hisownpetard]

18. You smoke Kools?

Are you black?

[ElboRuum]

3. Of COURSE I smoke menthols...

Because my vices must be eradicated.

Did I do something in a previous life of such egregious harm that every ounce of guilty pleasure in my life must be subject to a bunch of authoritarians with wagging fingers and an ax to grind?

LEAVE BRITNEY MY MENTHOLS ALONE!!!

[RantinRavin]

5. Ummm, from what I read

They are leaving them alone...

[ElboRuum]

19. I know. But it never ends there.

There are those who are "dissatisfied" with the decision. Translation: this will come up again and again and again until they are "satisfied".

[TomInTib]

7. Do I now qualify as a Minority-owned business now?

I am a 25 percenter.

[LeftyMom]

8. No more cloves?

Just stomp on my whole fucking disaffected youth, why don't you?

Jesus.

[AllHereTruth]

11. Canada here i come for my damn cloves. n/t

[Theres-a]

17. No just flavoring

Remember those Djarum unfiltered in the orange pack? Those were the best,and that was no flavor-that was the whole deal smoking clove leaves. Those will still be available,if I read that right.It's just additives they want to get rid of.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

9. Eugenics? n/t

[Fovea]

10. I smoked clove cigarettes, a pack a day

til the day I had a stroke and two heart attacks at 45.
That is the day I gave up tobacco.
Not too sure I am going to make 55.


Probably the most dangerous drug available with or without prescription.
Compared to tobacco, pot should be handed out free to kindergartners.

I don't say to ban it outright, but Canada has the right idea, though they don't tax it high enough.
I am thinking twenty dollars a pack sounds about right.

[anigbrowl]

14. Seconded

Thanks for sharing your experience. Helps me stay focused.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

16. clove cigs are worse than regular cigs

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says clove cigarettes produce at least twice as much nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide as regular American cigarettes brands.

[pleah]

12. --

:smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke:

[downindixie]

13. What do you want next its a choice.Stop taxing the poor and give them insurance!

"Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attemps to control a man's appetite by legislation,and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes"

Abraham Lincoln