Should flavored alchohol be banned?

[Statistical]

Poll question: Should flavored alchohol be banned?

[Fleshdancer]

1. Is there a particular reason why it should?

:shrug:

[Statistical]

4. Just an experiment in psychology.

The hypothesis: people are less likely to support a ban on sins they enjoy.

[Fleshdancer]

5. interesting

I agree with your hypothesis.

[DesertRat]

22. Here's the reason for the question

Federal health officials banned the sale of flavored cigarettes on Tuesday in the first major crackdown since the Food and Drug Administration was given the authority to regulate tobacco.

The ban is intended to end the sale of tobacco products with chocolate, vanilla, clove and other flavorings that lure children and teenagers into smoking. The agency will study regulating menthol products and hinted that it might soon take action against the far larger market of flavored small cigars and cigarillos.

“These flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular smokers,” Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, commissioner of food and drugs, said in announcing the ban.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/health/policy/23fda.html?_r=1

[merh]

23. Oh goody, the FDA just created another black market.

What a bunch of idiots.

Guess the cops don't have enough to worry about with drugs

Now there will be a black market for vanilla flavored cigs.

[Fumesucker]

28. Nicotine *is* a highly addictive drug..

Alcohol also is a highly addictive drug..

I'm constantly floored by the number of people who use language that implies that these two drugs are not in fact "drugs"..

[timeforpeace]

33. If we don't do it now and the Pukes get back in power, it won't ever get done. Hurry.

[Sebastian Doyle]

34. Yes, both are addictive drugs.

But alcohol, in moderation, will not kill you, and may in fact, be good for you (the "one glass of wine a day" theory.)

There's no such thing as a "safe" daily amount of nicotine.

[Fumesucker]

36. It depends a great deal on the person..

People vary a lot in their susceptibility to addiction to various drugs, some can take just a few drinks and become addicted to alcohol while others can smoke cigarettes for many years and put them away with little effort.

In a titrated delivery system such as say, gum, nicotine is actually pretty safe even if it is addictive.

It isn't the nicotine which makes cigarettes dangerous, it's the multitude of other compounds that cause heart disease, emphysema, cancer and so on.

[merh]

40. Sorry, I should have posted "worry about with other drugs".

You can go argue about cigs with someone else, I don't really care what you think about them.

But I must ask you, do you think we should ban alcohol? I mean it is a drug and bootlegging did make some very prominent US citizens a fortune during prohibition.

:eyes:

[Fumesucker]

42. I think all recreational drugs should be legal and regulated..

Yes, even meth..

The reason I pointed our your semantic error is because I constantly see people who should know better, like my physician ex-brother-in-law, make exactly the same mistake. He talks about the evils of "drugs" while drinking to excess a surprising amount (not to mention his diet blows major chunks, way too much red meat and it shows).

I think it's a way that many people fool themselves into thinking they aren't "doing drugs" when they drink "adult beverages" and smoke tobacco.

[merh]

44. And my post in no way could be read like anything your ex BIL

may have said as reflected in your post.

Seems you have issues with your ex BIL that you end up taking out on folk on the board. IMHO, you should try to work on your issues.

[Fumesucker]

49. Here's what you wrote..

"Guess the cops don't have enough to worry about with drugs"..

Not hard to take that the way I did..

[merh]

50. Yes, yes it was hard, for the normal person - see how you alone

jumped on it and got what you did out of it.

You have issues with your exBIL, deal with them and leave me alone. You've brought nothing to the table but bitter grapes.

[Fumesucker]

51. No, I have issues with the drug war..

I'm one of a very few people who raise the point about "alcohol and drugs" being a destructive and distracting meme.

I've been fighting this particular battle since long before I ever met my ex BIL so your attempt at remote psychoanalysis is totally off base.

Your name isn't Frist by any chance?

[merh]

52. Hey, you are the one that brought your ex-BIL into this

btw, for someone that has nothing to defend, you sure are defending your posts.

[Fumesucker]

54. I used him as a concrete example of someone who should know better..

That's all.

Now my ex father in law was a physician also and he and I saw very much eye to eye on the subject.

Changing the way people think about "drugs" is important to me because nothing about the drug war will change until people's perceptions change.

Edited to add: It's rather like getting a different car, you never notice them on the road until you get one, then you see them all the time. Likewise, once you become sensitized to the phrases like "alcohol and drugs" you realize that that particular meme gets spread constantly and it certainly implies that alcohol is not a drug.

[merh]

55. You may want to work on your tactics.

Your posts are not conducive to improving understanding of anything.

Personally, I have found them boring and self-surving, while being accusatory and unnecessary.

[Fumesucker]

57. People differ..

How do you point something out without mentioning it?

[Hepburn]

46. I rarely drink...

...and mostly if I do it is a small glass of wine. I don't like the taste of hard liquor ~~ tastes like medicine to me...gag!

I vote NO because unless in directly impacts on me or it is abusive/dangerous to children or animals, etc., I frankly do not give a shit what others do. They could eat 200 cherry flavored vodka popcicles a day and I could not care less...unless they get in a car and drive.

:hi:

[Statistical]

2. Once you are done voting compare it to here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6606406&mesg_id=6606406

[Poll_Blind]

3. Only alcohol flavored with cheetah poo should be legal. n/t

PB

[Harry Monroe]

7. Mmmmm.....cheetah poo!

[Statistical]

8. I wish I had thought to make that a choice in the poll n/t

[armyowalgreens]

13. It's called tequila.

[TxRider]

14. ROFL

[TxRider]

15. ROFL

[unpossibles]

16. win! nt

[Fumesucker]

29. I think you misspelled "Jagermeister" n/t

[Harry Monroe]

6. I voted "Yes, all flavor should be removed from alcohol"

Just because no one else would. After a few drinks, your taste buds are numb so what does it matter anyway?

[DireStrike]

9. This doesn't get at what you're trying to show.

"ban flavored cigarettes" is a subset of "ban all cigarettes", a belief that has some traction in the US.

"ban flavored alcohol" is a weird proposal and does not attract any votes from people who want to "ban all alcohol". Because all of us know there are hardly any of those people.

The voting will be skewed by these factors, and of course by a ton of others. It's just an internet poll, after all.

But I really don't think this helps make your point.

[Statistical]

10. No internet poll can prove anything (for that matter no poll can "prove" anything either).

The real intent was more to see if people who voted yes on the ban flavored cigarettes would suddenly see the hypocrisy of their own actions. I really doubted they would actually vote but maybe for a second they would have that momentary feeling that they are full of shit. They just love to hate cigs because it is the vice they love to hate and drinking is the vice they love to love.

They aren't that dissimilar despite nobody thinking about it.

What are the logical reasons for banning flavored cigs? To make it less attractive for minors? The taste may make some smokers quit/cut back?

How do those not apply to alcohol?

Now I think they are a logical fail for cigs BUT if you feel it applies to cigs (as 18% of DU does) why would you not think it applies to alcohol? Bias maybe.

[DireStrike]

25. Yes, bias exists. Cigarettes and alcohol are different substances.

A lot more people are ok with the consequences of others drinking around them, than are ok with the consequences of people smoking around them.

A specific ban on flavored cigarettes is very bizarre. However in an ideal world there would be no cigarettes. I really can't complain about the drive to destroy cigarettes, although the campaign is using every single ridiculous premise and dirty trick to get the job done.

The only reason to feel bad about this is to have sympathy for the smokers, which I do. If the idea is to get rid of cigarettes almost altogether, we should be open about it and address the needs of smokers. A lot of the arguments used now are facetious.

[TexasObserver]

11. No, but a tax that compensates for the costs of alcohol would be good.

The costs of alcohol to society are significant. First, our health care system suffers for it. Second, the costs to children exposed to their parents' alcoholism is incalculable. Third, the costs to productivity, the on the job accidents, the auto accidents - all resulting from booze.

We should have a huge alcohol fund that helps to pay those costs.

[lapfog_1]

12. Well, would you vote to ban these?

[Fleshdancer]

37. ROFL! I remember those

For some crazy reason, my parents let me have them every time we went to the neighborhood store that sold them. Never made me smoke though. Then again, I also liked the candy necklaces and ring pops, but I don't wear jewelry. Go figure.

[Hepburn]

47. No, not ban them...

...but IMO it is a good idea that minors could only buy with parental consent.

[BlooInBloo]

Is there a history or prospect of them marketing it to kids?

[Statistical]

18. I know when I was a kid we went straight for the flavored malt liquour.

Cheap, gets you drunk, and to this teenager tasted a hell of a lot better than piss water = beer.

[BlooInBloo]

19. (looks back fondly on his mad dog days)

[Fumesucker]

30. Boone's Farm performed (performs?) a similar function..

I still don't like beer at damn near sixty.

But I only very rarely drink alcohol any more.

[sam sarrha]

17. it allows people to believe they haven't consumed enough alcohol to kill themselves

[thelordofhell]

20. How in the world are you going to get college girls drunk?

:spray:

[Fumesucker]

31. We used to call it Purple Panther Piss..

190 proof alcohol with a variety of fruit juices..

[daleo]

21. If you outlaw flavored alcohol

Only outlaws will have flavored alcohol.

[Johonny]

24. I don't drink, thus don't care

[gleaner]

26. I said no

When I was younger and had too much to drink, I invariably hurled at some point. The flavor of the drinks was the only merciful thing I had going when they were making their way back out into the world.

The 150 proof rum which had no flavor was just brutal.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

27. Hell no. I've got a bunch of apple and peach moonshine. Oh wait that's already illegal.

[Gman2]

32. They should remove all flavor of wine.

[Statistical]

35. Grrr . . .

Grrr. :mad:

[Fleshdancer]

38. You are now my enemy

Why would you say such horrible things??!?! :cry:

[Gman2]

39. They dont have a facetious smilie.

[Fleshdancer]

41. lol, fair enough

:rofl:

[LWolf]

43. Other:

I don't know. What are the arguments for it and against it, and what makes this a pressing enough issue to attract attention?

[The Straight Story]

45. Govt banned cigarettes that are flavored, so why not alcohol (nt)

[LWolf]

58. I don't know.

Why did they ban flavored cigarettes?

My mom quit smoking 30 years ago, and I divorced my first husband in 1988. I haven't been around anyone who actually smoked since then.

I obviously haven't kept up with smoking issues. ;)

[JVS]

48. Mmmmm everclear!

[aikoaiko]

53. Boxxy says....

[jenniferj]

56. In the UK there are they fuel the binge drinking culture...

Go to Nottingham or Cardiff and the pubs are full of steaming drunk teens and twenties on alco-pops...
They need to be more expensive....