At the gym today (yes, I’ve been twice, I’m now a total regular), I had a chance to listen to the news and caught a discussion about Bloomberg’s new plan to ban cigarette sales to people under 21. One of the participants advanced the argument that if 18-year-olds are old enough to go into the army and die, they are old enough to smoke. What strikes me as completely bizarre is that the “old enough to smoke” is up for debate while “old enough to die in Afghanistan” isn’t. This is the only issue worth discussing here because these cigarette bans are a total waste of time. Oral trauma happens way before one turns 18 or even 8, and it will manifest itself whether Mayor Bloomberg approves or not.
I especially like the argument that if people don’t start smoking before 21, they never will. This conjecture somehow mysteriously follows from the statistics that most smokers started smoking before this age. It’s like all logic abandons people when they set on the path of combating the vices of others.
Of course, right after this news segment, I discovered things could be a lot worse. Apparently, some idiot school has been sending notes telling parents their kids are obese and shouldn’t be given candy on Halloween. I wouldn’t be surprised if this school believes this will stop bullying instead of promoting it. And, of course, making kids feel stress and guilt will totally prevent them from overeating.
Clarissa's Blog 
I thought it was just one woman who planned to hand out a letter to kids who she deemed to be too fat to get candy, not a whole school.
You do make a good point about how the age when one can serve in the army is never the thing up for debate.
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This is the silliest rule. I don’t even thing there ever existed a teenager who wanted to smoke and couldn’t obtain cigarettes, whatever the age of ok-to-smoke was.
Also, isn’t this trying to solve an already solved problem? I haven’t seen or heard of many US teenagers who smoke tobacco. Why the rule then?
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Hah! The CDC says more teenagers smoke pot than tobacco. Certainly then, an increase of the age limit for tobacco will lower consumption further, since the example of marijuana shows bans work.
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Also, I wonder how many of the tobacco smokers only use tobacco as a mixer for weed.
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I heard once that the average age someone starts smoking is 15, and this appears to be about right now that I’ve done an internet search. The smoking age being 18 doesn’t seem to have stopped anyone, so why would raising it to 21 have any effect?
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This is one of many mysterious aspects of this issue.
It seems like the entire purpose of these laws Bloomberg keeps passing is to let him vent his personal aggression against people who do things he disapproves.
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// Oral trauma happens way before one turns 18 or even 8, and it will manifest itself whether Mayor Bloomberg approves or not.
Bit it could manifest itself in a fashion less harmful to oneself and others.
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Yes, like alcoholism. 🙂
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Bloomberg is a misogynistic fucktard.
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Oh, it gets even better. Check out what this school is doing in Calgary. 😦
http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/11/01/demand-more-from-kids
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