The FDA’s Proposed Ban On Cigarettes Will Fail Just As Prohibition Did

Forbes — Steve Forbes warns that a proposed FDA rule that, in effect, would ban cigarettes will do about as much good to end smoking as Prohibition did to end alcohol consumption.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing a sweeping rule that, in effect, would ban all cigarettes sold on the market today. How? By forcing manufacturers to reduce the nicotine content by 97%. That’s like mandating liquor producers remove the alcohol in booze. Nicotine is what makes smoking so pleasurable and addictive.

There are 30 million smokers in the U.S. As this episode of What’s Ahead explains, banning legal cigarettes will open up a vast illegal market with sales in the tens of billions of dollars. China, which is the source of most illegal vaping products, is licking its chops at this opportunity. So are the Mexican drug cartels and other criminal gangs. Prohibition was a disaster, and it will be the same with cigarettes.

What makes the FDA’s action so weird is that nicotine isn’t a carcinogen. There are three proven alternatives to traditional smokes that give users a nicotine kick without the accompanying and dreadful chemicals. They work very well and safely to enable people to quit smoking. Why is the FDA so dangerously obtuse here?

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