Eighty national public health groups, including the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Preventative Medicine, placed a full-page ad in Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post in support of a federal ban on menthol in cigarettes and all flavored cigars.

“The answer is clear,” the full-page ad says. “Saving lives starts by ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.

“Smoking kills nearly half a million people in the United States each year, and these addictive, deadly products are a big part of the problem. The FDA and White House have our full support to release lifesaving rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars.”

  • MagicShel@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    32
    ·
    1 year ago

    Is it though? I’m pretty sure alcohol is the most destructive legal drug there is. But prohibition didn’t go so great last time so don’t take that as a call to start banning sweet alcohol, I just disagree with the assertion that tobacco is worse.

      • MagicShel@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        28
        ·
        1 year ago

        And I disagree. I’ve been around a lot of barely functioning alcoholics in my life. But this isn’t me arguing that you’re flat out wrong, just questioning it because it doesn’t line up with my experience.

        • stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          And yet someone with real data posted something that says that tobacco actually causes more deaths. I presume that yours was the one downvote.

          • MagicShel@programming.dev
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            Nah. I rarely downvote unless someone says something exceptionally stupid. I might argue that deaths is a narrow way to measure, but it’s certainly valid and facts are facts. I’m glad that was posted.

            • stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              For the record I’m not attempting to disagree with you. When you add in the collateral toll that alcohol takes, its impact may indeed be greater than tobacco. I was referring specifically to the toxicity of cigarettes. Although there is likely a safe amount of alcohol you can consume, there is no safe level of smoking you can take on. My comments have been confined specifically to this area.