https://www.aclu.org/letter/coalition-letter-concern-hhs-menthol-cigarette-ban
The "menthol flavor" ban is stupid, cruel, and is designed to implicitly target Black Americans.
At a moment when various governmental jurisdictions are trying to figure out how to legalize pot, turning the selling of menthol cigarettes into a felony (which will affect almost exclusively Black Americans) is unconscionable.
Eric Garner was killed by police for selling loose cigarettes.
If you think that this administration is a step forward, you're not paying attention.
Every time you pass a law, you are introducing a cop with a gun into a tense situation.
Support for Biden and Harris is support for more people being murdered by the state.
The police WILL murder Black Americans for selling menthol cigarettes.
I understand the good intent... but good intent means nothing to a cop with a gun looking to ruin someone's day.
Also, bodily autonomy is an animating principle for me. It's why I believe abortion should be legal, it's why I believe pot should be legal, it's why I believe dangerous-sports should be legal... and it's why I believe a human being has the right to smoke menthol cigarettes.
The idea that a woman has a right to an abortion, to smoke marijuana, but should be jailed on a felony for buying/selling menthol cigarettes is ludicrous.
But hey, at least a decade or two from now, the Democrats will offer legislation to reduce sentencing disparities for menthol cigarettes, right?
It boggles the mind that people think it's not profoundly racist to single out a type of cigarette overwhelmingly preferred by Black Americans to make a felony.
