Bronx Councilman Prepares a Ban on Candy-Flavored Cigarettes

Some stories are so foul and awful that they transcend Brooklyn and shift attention from all the sewerage that Atlantic Yards and other developments threaten to let loose into the Gowanus Canal. Today's Daily News item about efforts to get the City Council to ban "candy cigarettes" is one of them. Candy cigarettes? WTF are candy cigarettes? Clearly, GL has been way out of the tobacco loop since becoming a reformed smoker.

Well, there are such things as candy cigarettes, and they have "Twista Lime," "Kauai Kolada," "Beach Breezer" and "Mocha Taboo." Plus, candy flavors, natch. Bet you can't wait to taste a "Beach Breezer." (Apparently, the Camel brand is one of the biggest offenders here. Can you imagine the minds that come up with things like this?)

Do you think this is a subtle attempt to target the kiddies in the never ending quest to make them lifelong tobacco addicts in new and different ways? (Sadly, these smokes are probably so wretched that there would be no need for a ban with adults. They'd ban themselves.)

The American Lung Association held a press conference (with some teenagers) to call for a ban, and a City Council Member, Joel Rivera of the Bronx, rose to the challenge, saying he's drafting legislation to ban candy-flavored cigarettes. He also introduced a law to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes to 21.

The New York City ban would be a first. Last year, the Chicago City Council (which recently banned foie gras) adopted a menthol cigarette ban, but it was withdrawn for a redraft.

While this might be GL's Inner Fascist coming out, we think that candy-flavored cigarettes are such a heinous marketing tactic, that a ban just might be in order, even though it could be of dubious constitutionality (but in the Bush Era, what's a little unconstitutionality?).

You can just see the black market for candy-flavored cigarettes developing.

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