Tucker Carlson on Thursday attacked the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes as being part of a “war against happiness,” and said those in the government agency have it out for the “working man” who just wants to enjoy himself.
Speaking to Richard Marianos, a former assistant director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Carlson asked, “Do you have any idea why they are hassling Black smokers—or any smokers? Smokers have already been hassled, I would say. Why are they doing this?”
The FDA’s proposal would primarily affect Black smokers, nearly 85 percent of whom use menthol-flavored products (compared to 30 percent of white smokers), according to data included in the agency’s announcement in April. That announcement also cites research finding that the ban would “lead an additional 923,000 smokers to quit, including 230,000 African Americans in the first 13 to 17 months after a ban goes into effect.” Black men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have the highest rates of lung cancer in the U.S.
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“This is the biggest question and the most difficult thing I have ever encountered in my 30 years of law enforcement,” Marianos replied, “because it creates more problems for the police on the street and for the communities and their quality of life than anything I’ve seen since Prohibition. This is Prohibition again, and somebody here in the 202 area code needs to revise their history and realize that Prohibition doesn’t work.”
Marianos is among those who have predicted that the ban would backfire by creating a black market where police end up targeting Black men for petty offenses. Divisions emerged in the Congressional Black Caucus, for instance, over the proposal in light of the possibility of such an unintended consequence.
After Marianos claimed a ban is “not going to work in any way,” Carlson suggested a motive for it: harming Americans’ well-being.
“Maybe it’s just a war against happiness. No one wants to say it, but people smoke because it makes them happy,” the Fox host said. “Like, you shouldn’t smoke, it’s bad for you, whatever. Again, it’s hardly the worst thing people are doing right now. Maybe they just can’t stand the idea that some working-class guy is enjoying himself.”
