On September 22, 2009, your life went on as it always has. You woke up, followed through with your dreary daily routine, and fell asleep only to start the monotony all over again the next day. The only difference on that fateful Tuesday was this: thanks to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act passed by Congress, you weren’t able to hasten the sweet release of death with the aid of flavored cigarettes.

But what, specifically, is a flavored cigarette? According to the act, they are any cigarette containing an “additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.” The most common flavored cigarettes are Djarum, a clove cigarette brand sold by Kretek International, Inc.

On the surface, this legislation concerning tobacco additives appears to be solid. It is unarguable that in America, children should be protected from the alluring taste of these products. However, if one digs deeper, a number of glaring questions start to surface: If we care so much about kids purchasing candy-flavored vices, why aren’t liquors such as UV Blue or Bacardi Apple banned? Why are mentholated cigarettes still on store shelves?

It’s clear that lawmakers aren’t truly concerned about the real culprits for minors choosing to smoke. The objective is not public health- it’s profit. Not surprisingly, one of the biggest backers of this bill was Phillip-Morris, whose brands will not be affected. Though flavored cigarette sales only constitute 1 percent of the U.S. tobacco market, the $125 million annual gross was enticing enough for the corporate giant to get its slimy hands in to the mix.

The new law looks even more suspect when one takes in to account the findings of a survey of over 54,000 underage student smokers done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
52 percent of high school smokers preferred Marlboro, while 21 percent smoked Newport, followed by 13 percent patronization of Camel

These percentages are similar in middle school-aged smokers. Three-quarters of black high school smokers smoked Newports, which contain the additive menthol (conveniently excluded from the ban).
As usual, the small businessperson is the one who gets the shaft. “I’m going to lose a huge amount of business,” says Zizo El-Sayed, the proprietor of Royal Cigar & Tobacco in Dinkytown. “No place in Minneapolis sells clove cigarettes like we do.” Zizo estimates that his sales will fall by 25 percent when the ban is enacted. Royal Cigar & Tobacco is just one of a myriad of local stores that will lose money due to the new law.

The upshot is, at least more brands of tobacco are off the shelves, right? Not exactly. The wording of the bill specifically states that only cigarettes can be administered by the FDA. Wise to the obvious loophole, Kretek International has already started developing a flavored cigar. What’s the difference? Cigarettes are rolled with thin paper and cigars are rolled with tobacco leaves. This is proof alone that the bill is ineffective and incomplete.

Are we, as a society, going to allow the government to pass legislation like this until it micromanages every aspect of our lives? If something as frivolous and insignificant as tobacco flavoring can be banned, when will Congress pen a bill banning soda, or ice cream? If the government wants to make a real impact on the health of its citizens, it should outlaw high fructose corn syrup, the infamous food additive that has crept its way into the majority of snack foods and increased obesity and diabetes across the country.

With the economic downturn, sluggish healthcare reform, and ever-increasing national debt, our patience ought to be wearing thin with elected officials who choose to spend the taxpayer’s money pushing phony and abortive legislation rather than fixing the critical issues the future of our nation hinges on.

Our government was created to protect the rights of the people. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is just one of the many examples of how every day, citizens are having their freedom of choice slowly eroded by exhaustive bureaucracy. It is our duty as private citizens to be good stewards of our personal liberties; otherwise, the incalculable amount of blood shed in their name would have been spilled in vain.

Tags: ban, Dinkytown, tobacco