In recent weeks – amid a drip-drip-drip of stories about illnesses and, tragically, deaths among users of vaping products – there has been an almost palpable glee emanating from the ranks of the professional anti-tobacco activists. With tobacco use rates at historic lows, the anti-tobacco people have been looking for a new dragon to slay…
Raising the Smoking Age Is a Dumb Way to Address Teen Smoking When So Many Teens Are Already Ignoring the Law
In Minnesota many local governments are joining a national trend toward raising the age for tobacco use to 21. In North Dakota, as the Fargo Forum reported over the weekend, that trend hasn’t found footing. That’s something the Forum would like to change, advocating for the age-21 tobacco prohibition in an editorial. There are a…
Legislation Would Raise North Dakota’s Tobacco Age to 19, but Exempts Active Military Members
Currently North Dakota bans tobacco use for minors (vaping is included as tobacco use, even though it’s a much different thing). “Minors” means anyone under the age of 18. But legislation introduced by state Rep. Pamela Anderson (D-Fargo) would raise that age to 19, unless you’re an active member of the U.S. military. You can…
Data Shows Vaping Is Not Leading Kids to Smoking
In what some might argue is a bid to remain relevant, the anti-tobacco zealots have been working hard to creep their mission from a war on tobacco use to a war on vaping as well. In fact, a recent statewide ballot measure here in North Dakota would have lumped vaping in with tobacco products for…
This Is Why Putting Anti-Tobacco Activism in State Government Was a Bad Idea
Study: Nicotine labeling on e-cigarettes sold in ND often wrong That’s the troubling headline over a Patrick Springer article published in the Fargo Forum over the weekend. Whatever your position on vaping, we can all agree that the labeling should be accurate. But there’s a problem. This study was conducted by the anti-tobacco activists in…
Should Smoking And Vaping Be Treated As Though They're Exactly The Same?
Should we regulate and tax vaping products in the exact same manner as we do tobacco products? That’s likely going to be the question before North Dakota voters this year as anti-tobacco activists push a new ballot measure (read it at the link). Their proposal would lump vaping products in with tobacco products, and then implement…
Minnesota Considering Raising Smoking Age To 21
Big, paternalistic government is always taking another step toward infantilizing Americans. At 18 you’re old enough to fight in wars, enter into legal contracts, be tried as an adult for crimes, and vote for leaders for public office but in Minnesota now some people want to postpone the ability to purchase and use tobacco until…
Brad Rodu: Reporter, Cass County Officials Mislead Public On Health Risks Of Smokeless Tobacco
Robin Huebner’s Sunday column, “North Dakota ranks high in use of smokeless tobacco,” was grossly misleading. As Rob Port pointed out, North Dakota may have the third highest smokeless rate in the U.S., but the state’s smoking ranking is “middle of the pack,” despite a relatively low cigarette excise tax. Worse, Huebner, along with Holly…
Vaping Seems To Be Replacing Smoking, Not Luring People To It
This coming session our lawmakers will be considering legislation which would continue to treat vaping, or “e-cigarettes,” as though it were just like actual smoking. Already the state included vaping in its ban on smoking, now lawmakers will consider whether or not to ban smoking to minors. As I’ve written previously, I don’t believe we…
Does North Dakota Really Need To Ban E-Cigarettes For Minors?
Vaping, or the use as e-cigarettes (as they’re known to the chagrin of proponents who note they’re nothing like actual cigarettes), has burst into fashionable use in North Dakota and across the nation. This has happened so quickly that the law really hasn’t kept up with the trend. North Dakotans voted for a statewide ban…