tobacco prohibition begins

Tobacco Ban Begins…
Hope you bought your last pack of flavored cigarettes by midnight on Sept. 21…or else you’re out of luck. Thank the newly enacted Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

I’m OK with state-by-state action. In fact, I couldn’t have bought the last pack of cloves in Maryland at 11:55 p.m. if I had wanted to. Because Maryland was nearly two decades ahead of the curve, mandating: “It is illegal to sell, give or otherwise distribute clove cigarettes to ANY person, even if 18 years old or older.”

I had a friend in Washington, D.C., buy my first and final pack of clove cigarettes last month — as an exercise of freedom. On my regular weekend visits (albeit on a porch in Maryland), we’ve passed a single cig from mouth to mouth on his front porch with whoever happens to be there (all over age 21, in fact). We told neighbors who popped by that this was their last chance.

Jim Nelson warned you about this back in July. But now it’s here. And the law’s been beating down on smokers — with the help of Philip Morris — for years.