From the city that brought you the smoking ban in parks and other public places under the guise of protecting children from SEEING people smoking comes a new low in their erstwhile condemnation of the LEGAL smoking public.
In late October, the NYC City Council voted to ban sale of ALL flavored tobacco products (except of course menthol cigarettes). This ban would include flavored chewing tobacco and cigars! Mayor Bloomberg, who kicked off the city's crackdown on smoking in 2002, is expected to sign this bill into law soon.
The argument is that the FDA's recent legislation that prohibits the sale of flavored cigarettes (except menthol of course) doesn't go far enough to stop kids from being tempted to smoke. They are claiming that little cigars, cigars, snus and chewing tobacco are all "gateway drugs" that Big Tobacco is using to drive kids to smoke more cigarettes. Of course this is in direct contradiction to the fact that Big Tobacco doesn't produce any flavored smokes BESIDES menthol cigarettes and hasn't for years. Not coincidentally, this legislation purposefully excludes products flavored with "menthol, mint or clove tastes or aromas" from the ban; precisely the only flavored smoking products that Big Tobacco DOES produce.
Brooklyn Councilman Lewis Fidler is the sole voice of reason on this board. His nay vote was cast rightfully because the sale of tobacco products to minors is already illegal and these new laws will do NOTHING to stop that.
Amazingly enough, in this day and age when municipalities are cutting back on critical services like law enforcement, medical and educational services they have chosen a course of action that not only does NOTHING to stop kids from starting to smoke, it does so an estimated cost of $2 million per year in tax revenues that will be lost. How many cops can you add to the beat for $2 million per year?
Why not try increasing the tax on this class of product to price it out of the hands of teenagers? That is the stance that Councilman Fidler espouses as being a more attractive alternative.
More importantly, if you REALLY want to do something about keeping kids from starting smoking via flavored products, why not stop the hypocrisy initiated by the FDA legislation and ban the sale of menthol cigarettes instead of high end luxury products (like fine flavored cigars) enjoyed by consenting adults that are already priced out of the reach of most children?
STOP THE INSANITY NYC! Stop making the useless gestures that make for great sound bites ("It's for the kids") that in reality only go to further stigmatize and criminalize legal consumers of tobacco-based products. Shame on you!