As we had noted a little over a week ago, Congress raised the federal age limit for the sale of tobacco and vape products from 18 to 21 as part of a must-pass budget bill to avoid yet another government shutdown, and on December 20, 2019, Trump signed it into law, and even had the GALL to brag-tweet about it. And while Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch "Awkward Turtle" McConnell, a big supporter of the age limit hike, was no doubt very pleased with himself for his "victory", we need to remember that both parties overwhelmingly supported it. Tyranny is apparently as bipartisan as it is whimisical--and very cowardly as well. And of course, Big Tobacco and Big Vape overwhelmingly supported it like the cowardly quislings that they are.
If that wasn't bad enough, it looks like the FDA isn't wasting any time in implementing the raising of the tobacco and vape product sale age to 21. As of December 27, 2019, they officially noted on their website that it is now illegal to sell tobacco or vape products to anyone under 21. They could have waited up to 180 days to formulate new regulations plus an additional 90 days before enforcing them, according to the new law, but apparently even that very small mercy is somehow beneath them. And of course there is no grandfather clause either in this disgusting new law, nor will there be in the FDA regulations. In other words, 18-20 year old young adults in a whopping 31 non-21 states (and several territories) who were legal to buy cigarettes and vapes just a week ago are suddenly banned from buying them now. Talk about adding insult to injury!
And of course the new federal 21 law also applies just as much to our men and women in uniform, despite a few Tobacco 21 states having the small mercy to carve out an exception for them. The new federal law has NO such exceptions, and is really a slap in the face of so many of our troops. You know, kinda like the 21 drinking age has been for over three decades now.
The only silver lining to this ageist abomination is that it may very well anger enough Americans to challenge it in court, and if successful, we may get the two-for-one special of getting that other ageist abomination, the 21 drinking age, struck down as well. And possibly even for cannabis too, though federally there is no such age limit (yet). Otherwise, there is really no upside to this new law. All it will do is effectively create an even more massive black market and greater disrespect for the rule of law.
In fact, it may very well drive many teen and young adult nicotine vapers back to smoking, since even with strict enforcement, regular cigarettes will be at least somewhat easier to get than vape products due to the difference in the size of the markets, general accessibility, and the design of the products. Talk about a lose-lose proposition for public health!
As a wise man once said, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. Rather, if we lose our freedoms, it is because we have destroyed ourselves from within." That wise man, Abraham Lincoln, did not use those exact words it turns out, but his words came very close nonetheless. And that (mis)quote turned out to be very prescient indeed, as America really seems to be rotting and rusting from within.
The song "21 Guns" by Green Day comes to mind, as does the song immediately following it on the same album, "American Eulogy". And of course there's also Five Finger Death Punch, with "Stranger than Fiction":
"It's stranger than fiction, how [we've] decayed..."
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Members of Congress, the President, and most of the American people don't care about freedom anymore. President Trump said in last year's State of the Union speech that he's a supporter of freedom, but in reality, he's actually the concept of Social Democracy. Members of Congress are only good at one thing: passing bills to oppress young people. If the smoking and vaping age remained at 18-19 and with sensible regulation, the problem of increased vaping would have been solved by now. Unfortunately, today's United States of America is in support of oppression, rather than the freedom our country which was supposedly founded on in the late 18th century.
ReplyDeleteYou can say that again!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, so.
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