As a clove smoker, both bills are the same to me. The FDA bill bans all flavored tobacco except menthol. I won’t be able to buy a carton of Djarum, but I can still buy whatever brand Obama smokes. What’s the point of banning one but not the other?

rw on June 5, 2009 at 1:22 PM

I didn’t realize this. Cloves are a wonderful smoke.

We’ve switched to ecigarettes – much cheaper, no smell and no chemicals (other than nicotine).

They want to move tobacco under the FDA because then they will have a way to legalize …..marijuana.
Buddahpundit on June 5, 2009 at 2:50 PM

I think you’re right. It’s a progressive two-fer. They get innovative new ways to restrict the hated ciggies, and lay the legal groundwork for “discovering” that marijuana could be legally and effectively “controlled” by the FDA.

I think Coburn is a genius on this issue. I’m not a smoker, and I have to admit I’m kind of grateful that restaurants are smoke-free now. But I am heartily sick of all the hypocrisy and nanny-statism displayed in this country over cigarettes.

Old Country Boy on June 5, 2009 at 5:09 PM

I think more people read it than you realize, a lot of posts were sarcasm. But I can understand your thinking that they didn’t, Allah gets a ration every night for the “Quote of the Day” because some people think it is his opinion and not a quote, even though they have only to click the link to see.

As far a tobacco goes, my family was in the tobacco business for many years. When my father died the presidents of B&W, L&M, and PM came to his funeral. If you have been as close to tobacco as I, you could have acquired an aversion approaching nausea. However, it’s a free country. Everyone should be able to choose their own method of departing this vale of tears.

So…youo’re not here about the alcohol or firearms?

Indeed. This looks like a dare from Coburn to his liberal colleagues in Congress: If you really hate tobacco, let’s go cold turkey on its revenue and ban it. Otherwise, stop with all the hypocrisy and leave oversight where it belongs, in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and let the FDA worry about food and drug safety.

That would be a great idea, but of course the prohibition talk is stupid, anti-freedom, and Statist. Coburn is a free thinker, for certain, but I hope he’s smarter than this.

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According to a news source you want to outlaw tobacco! Why not outlaw alcohol as well, just as many people are killed from that! While we’re at it lets stop people from eating hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza! Let’s outlaw sugar as that rots peoples’ teeth! Let’s just put the jack boots on, and goose step down the road to communism with Obama!

Your job sir, is to uphold the constitution, and defend our freedoms, and liberties from government, not help government control every aspect of every ones life! DO YOUR JOB!

BacaDog on June 5, 2009 at 2:18 PM

Awesome!!! I had a co-worker who’s father farmed and he was being paid NOT to grow tobacco. I was only mildly interested and there was a time frame based on acerage, easing the farmers into a new crop. It’s been years so I have no idea how it worked.

I’m just sayn’

Poisonous? I’ve known old farmers who would pick up a dried leaf off the barn floor to chew- no “processing” needed. The content of cigarettes is primarily a blend of different tobacco leaves to yield the desired strength and flavor, not a “meth lab” style of an “array of chemicals.” The danger- for cigs and pot- is inhaling a hot, gaseous mixture of chemicals from burning leaves into the human airway.

Oh, and there are more (and much less studied) chemicals in burning pot than tobacco.

Cindy Munford on June 5, 2009 at 1:37 PM

Hmmmm. There’s already been one buyout for tobacco farmers. Maybe they’ll be another!

Several years ago Kennedy and some others from Congress were sponsoring studies on alternative crops for tobacco farmers. They found out there wasn’t much that could replace the income.

I remember seeing some newscast while I was in southern Georgia where a pretty, young newsgirl asked this old farmer what he thought of Kennedy’s idea.

He said: “If Mr. Kennedy had been smoking cigarettes instead of drinking liquor, that girl would still be alive.”

The Race Card on June 5, 2009 at 2:10 PM

The only time tabacoo is poisonous is when it hasn’t been dried. As with many plants.. you have to dry them before doing anything to them.

Anyone who gardens, farms or is in agriculture knows that. Onions, Garlic and in some cases wheat need to dry for a period of 3 days before doing anything with them.