Pubdate: Wed, 16 Mar 2016
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321

ANTI-SMOKING BILLS TREAT EVERYONE AS KIDS

It's called infantalization - the treating of adults as if they were 
children. That's the essence of two bills just passed by the 
California Legislature.

Senate Bill X2-7 would raise the legal smoking age to 21 from 18 and 
is authored by state Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-Azusa. "The last several 
months have proven just how much tobacco's business model depends on 
their ability to market and sell their poison to our kids," he said. 
"It is time that we take a stand."

Except that 18-to-20-year-olds are not "kids," but adults who can 
join the military, buy and sell property, drive cars and vote. It's 
rather odd for politicians to trust these "kids" with the future of 
our democracy, but not with buying a pack of Marlboros.

The bill tacitly admits as much when it exempts from its restrictions 
those ages 18-20 who are "active-duty military personnel ... 
confirmed by a military identification card." But a military veteran, 
honorably discharged at age 20, all of a sudden could no longer buy smokes.

By now, everybody knows tobacco can kill you. But, in a free society, 
adults are allowed to make their own health decisions.

Also just approved was SBX2-5, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. It 
infantalizes not just young adults, but all adults. Absurdly, it 
would redefine "tobacco product" to include tobacco-less nicotine 
vapor devices, commonly called "vapes" or "e-cigs." It would put the 
increasingly popular electronic devices in the same category as 
cigarettes. That makes as much sense as redefining "beer" to include root beer.

The argument is that chemicals in the vaping liquid might be harmful 
and that vapes are a "gateway drug" to tobacco. But a 2015 study by 
Public Health England found vapes are "around 95 percent less harmful 
than smoking ... and have the potential to help smokers quit smoking."

SBX2-5 also maintains "that its provisions do not affect any law or 
regulation regarding medical marijuana." So it's OK to smoke pot to 
kick a cigarette habit, but not to vape?

We urge Gov. Jerry Brown to veto both bills.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom