Sheldon Richman talks about his latest piece for the Libertarian Institute, TGIF: The FDA’s Assault on Tobacco Consumers, where he explores the latest government efforts to regulate every aspect of nicotine products. In addition to its control over products containing actual tobacco, the FDA is now claiming jurisdiction over e-cigarettes—which contain nicotine but not tobacco—and tobacco pipes themselves. Just like alcohol prohibition or the war on drugs, Richman says, making a substance illegal or difficult to get only makes people turn to more potent and more dangerous forms. If the government really cared about fewer people smoking, it would look favorably on the smokeless alternatives. But of course, it does just the opposite.

Discussed on the show:

• “TGIF: The FDA’s Assault on Tobacco Consumers” (The Libertarian Institute)
• “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” (FDA)
• A Hobby, Not A Habit – Meditations on Pipe Smoking
• “Scott Gottlieb’s FDA Is Moving Toward a Stealth Ban on Cigarettes and Cigars” (Reason.com)
• Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use
• The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct
• Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers, Revised Edition

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of the Libertarian Institute and the author of America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited. Follow him on Twitter @SheldonRichman.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

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