Posted on 11/09/2014 4:25:16 PM PST by Olog-hai
The cartons of Marlboros, cans of Skoal and packs of Swisher Sweets are hard to miss stacked near the entrance of Vincent’s Country Store, but maybe not for much longer: All tobacco products could become contraband if local health officials get their way.
This sleepy central Massachusetts town of 7,700 has become an improbable battleground in America’s tobacco wars. On Wednesday, the Board of Health will hear public comment on a proposed regulation that could make Westminster the first municipality in the United States to ban sales of all tobacco products within town lines. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
How?
Dry counties are fairly prevalent in a few states. No one suggest that locals can't imposes those restrictions on their own people via the 21 amendment. Yet it is cigarettes that gets peoples panties in a bunch.
Lucrative for some....
“n order to feed their lust to feel superior”
that reads like the semi official the democrat party pledge
It's perfectly legal for Indian tribes to sell tax-free tobacco on their property. I don't know what other laws might apply in MA but here in CA I think there are legal Indian smoke shops located off-reservation. I'll do more research on that. Here's one in New York:
What is to prevent people from going to the next town and buying their tobacco there? The only result I see of this ban is that the local shops will lose income, and the town will lose the tax revenue. How, exactly, does the town benefit from the ban?
They pick a tiny little town with limited funds to pull this stunt with.
Like a cancer, it will grow.
After tobacco, what’s next? Sugar and soda pop?
When I said “How”, I was making an obtuse reference to the way Indians said hello in old westerns.
“How”.
Not finding a picture of a wooden Indian with word “How” emblazoned on it, I typed it out.
My Mom goes to one of the tribal stores for her cigs, outside Tulsa.
Guess I'm slowing down in my old age -- that's funny! Or maybe I've been indoctrinated by political correctness and automatically avoid the old stereotypes.
Naw.
Yer good.
If I had found a photo of an Indian wooden head, my point would have been punnier...
LOL
What depresses me is that social conservatives are just as likely as liberals to support sicking the government on people for behaving in ways that they disapprove of. Tobacco bans are an outrage but, by all means, let's continue the insane drug war.
Maybe this is about the unfortunate "freedom for me, but not for thee" philosophy so many subscribe to. What's the harm in smoking a nice cigar in the den after dinner, but marijuana? Well, that's what those hippies smoke...ban that.
I hope for a time when all Americans -- liberal, conservative, and otherwise -- can understand and consistently support the concept of liberty.
There is no liberty in addiction. Why do you oppose free people, freely walking into a voting booth, and freely voting to regulate cigarettes?
You are not alone my FReeper Friend.
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