National Review [2], R Street Institute President Eli Lehrer suggests that the Biden administration “should take a careful look at its menthol-ban proposal and consider other measures that, instead, meet current smokers where they are.” Lehrer notes that the ACLU, which has recently abandoned its long-time justification for existence in order to embrace all kinds of dictatorial Democrat agenda items, has savaged Biden for the menthol ban [3].
Lehrer raises the same point many on the left have raised — which is that making menthol cigarettes and Swisher Sweets illegal will mostly affect the black community and will therefore contribute to overpolicing in that community. The Eric Garner episode, in which the protagonist was killed by police as they wrestled with him in attempting to arrest him for selling “loosey,” untaxed cigarettes amid a New York City crackdown, was a perfect preview to what’s going to happen when Biden imposes one of the largest and most sweeping product bans since Prohibition.