Snuff out the menthol ban
It is no small thing that the Food and Drug Administration is moving to ban menthol cigarettes, as recently announced by the Biden administration. After all, they account for more than one-third of cigarette sales.
The agency says it is taking the action to cut down on tobacco addiction and curb deaths, and there is little doubt that the ban will likely lead some smokers to give up the bad habit. The federal move seems motivated by the best of intentions.
But there’s an uncomfortable dynamic at work here, since menthol cigarettes happen to be especially popular in the Black community. While just 30 percent of white smokers prefer menthols, 85 percent of Black smokers do, according to FDA statistics.
In other words, the cigarettes popular with Black Americans will be criminalized, while those preferred by white Americans will remain perfectly legal. (Smoking rates are about the same for both groups.) Is that a good idea?
Not according to some Black leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who say the ban is more than just discriminatohealth