Clickbait-y title aside, a recent study confirms what we at Twenty-One Debunked have always known. When examining substance use trends among college students from 2008-2018, it was observed that recreational cannabis legalization was associated with nearly 10% LESS "binge" drinking by students over the age of 21. That is of course not surprising, given that alcohol and cannabis tend to be substitutes, and the legal age limit for both substances is 21 in all such legalization states so far. No such effect was observed for students under 21, and no other effects were observed on trends for any other substance use (including nicotine use, illicit drug use, and prescription stimulant, sedative, or opioid misuse) among students under or over 21, except for a modest increase in the (mis)use of sedatives among students under 21 (but not over 21) for whatever reason. (So much for the long-debunked "gateway" theory).
We at Twenty-One Debunked believe that if the age limit was lowered to 18 for both alcohol and cannabis, the benefits of the aforementioned reduction in "binge" drinking would extend to students under 21 as well. In any case, cannabis legalization looks like a net public health win on balance.
So what are we waiting for?
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Monday, December 30, 2019
The Federal Smoking And Vaping Age Is Now 21 (Part Deux)
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..."
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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