this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
74 points (87.8% liked)

News

23297 readers
3715 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
rjc@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
dezmd@lemmy.world
Tenthrow@lemmy.world
JonsJava@lemmy.world
gedaliyah@lemmy.world
Blackbeard@lemmy.world
little_cow@lemmy.world
jeffw@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
74
Menthol cigarettes are killing Black Americans. Advocates are suing the government to change that (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
all 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This will not help any addicts to quit. I'm guessing they're hoping this will stop creating new addicts?

I'm not so sure. I'm not black, but I did used to smoke menthols when I smoked. If they weren't available... I just sucked it up and smoked regular cigarettes. The important thing in the end was that nicotine hit.

[–] kungen@feddit.nu 6 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I think that most smokers don't even like menthols. When I used to smoke, and someone would ask to bum a cigarette from me, I'd always say "sure, but they're menthols" and the majority of the time they would decline.

[–] Pacmanlives@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I mean I liked my Newports when I smoked. I was never a big time smoker but my grandpa was a two pack a day Kools smoker back in the day. We liked them. My dad and one of my brothers where big time wintergreen dippers as well

These days I mostly smoke a cigar a few times a year with some buddies while grilling.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

From what I understand (and someone please do correct me if I'm wrong), they're quite popular in the black community amongst people who smoke.

[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Yup. The article states that it’s in part due to black focused ad campaigns that ran for decades.

[–] Hoomod@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

I am always reminded of the TMNT movie, kid goes to join the foot clan and the recruiter(?) offers him a carton of cigarettes and asks "regular, or menthol", winks, and then tosses the menthol at a random person.

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

This reminds me of the increased regulations they imposed on flavored cigarettes years ago and I could remember an interview with a farmer worrying about his crop of burley tobacco also potentially getting banned because even though it's tobacco it has a drastically different, much sweeter flavor. I suspect this is because it's not about regulation to many people as much as it's about moving another step towards totally outlawing tobacco.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm not in favor of outlawing it, but if you're going to outlaw cannabis, which is less dangerous and mostly just psychologically addictive, you should outlaw tobacco. It's a ridiculous double-standard.

[–] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Well, cannabis (and cocaine) is only schedule 1 so they can throw hippies and minorities in prison (literally from the mouth of one of the people responsible for it).

So, you can't defeat that reasoning with logic.

[–] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 months ago

Cocaine is schedule 2. So is meth.

[–] PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

Menthol cigarettes were historically and still are targeted at the black community. Menthol was added as a flavor to cover up the harsher taste of cheaper tobacco. There have been some studies that indicate that menthol makes it easier for kids to start smoking, but there’s not been a full consensus on this. It’s also popular in working class white communities, but cigarette makers specifically targeted black communities. In the 1970s, for example, the gains made by the civil rights movement resulted in increased social and economic integration, which was associated with the phrase “Moving up.” Those of you old enough to remember the sitcom The Jeffersons might remember that phrase. Newport came out with an ad campaign targeted at the black community around the slogan “Move up to the great taste of Newport.” At one point they even tried to debut a brand called Uptown.

The US has banned flavored cigarettes for a while now because flavors are associated with inducing smoking. Menthol got a carve-out when that regulation was approved due to political pressure. Without the carve-out, it’s unlikely the regulation would have been approved. This is a move that’s been anticipated for a while, but required time and the decrease in the political fortunes of big tobacco to get passed. I don’t know if this is going to be successful, but we will see.