Democrats are totalitarians. If they decide they don’t like something, demonization and punitive taxation are only the beginning. Sooner or later there will be a total ban — as Governor Kathy Hochul wants to impose on tobacco in New York:
The state Health Department commissioned a new survey aimed at gauging support for an all-out prohibition — despite Gov. Hochul’s failure to secure support from state legislators to include a ban on menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products in the yet-to-be-approved state budget.
The survey isn’t for the little people, but for those whose political support she will need to impose a ban.
The survey, conducted by nonprofit research organization RTI International, was distributed to “community leaders” statewide, including “county legislators and county directors of public health,” according to an April 13 memo to prospective participants from Jennifer Lee, director of the Health Department’s Bureau of Tobacco Control.
Even the proposed level of authoritarianism will not stop people from smoking.
Kent Sopris, president of the New York Association of Convenience Store Owners, predicted a ban would put many stores out of business but wouldn’t stop tobacco use because smokers would just buy cigarettes out of state, online, or illegally on the black market.
“I think it would be bizarre for the state to create another category of illegal product that could lead to more conflict between law enforcement and the community,” he said.
Too bad New York doesn’t enforce laws it already has, rather than succumbing to savagery by letting felons run free.
Meanwhile, Hochul has kicked off a public education campaign encouraging people to buy legalized marijuana products.
“If you are out there advocating for the expanded sale of retail cannabis that sells candied flavored options, how can you tell regulated legal convenience stores they can’t sell menthol cigarettes to adults?” Sopris fumed.
Let alone tell them they can’t sell any cigarettes at all — except marijuana cigarettes.
You can see why Hochul promotes pot while conspiring to make tobacco illegal. Smoking cigarettes is bad for your health, but at least it sharpens the mind, improving concentration, attention, and memory. Marijuana will make you a stupefied zombie — i.e., a fit subject for Democrat rule.
https://moonbattery.com/pro-pot-kathy-hochul-wants-to-ban-tobacco/