The AP ran
a story today about the PACT Act. Uh oh, Big Brother wasn't as sneaky as he thought he was going to be getting this PACT Act passed. The troops are now starting to realize that they can't get their cigarettes mailed overseas anymore. From the article, "
Families don't have any other options for shipping cigarettes. The law only affects the U.S. Postal Service because UPS and FedEx do not allow consumer-to-consumer shipping of tobacco." Now, I'm as anti-smoking as anyone. But if a soldier is overseas getting shot at 8 hours a day and they want to smoke at the end of a shift, I'm not going to say anything. Although I would like to send them snus,
if I could. PACT is starting to look unpatriotic, according to the article, which in the post-9/11 world is the last thing you want to do. "
April Woods, the 26-year-old wife of a Fort Campbell soldier in Afghanistan, used to regularly send him packages of snacks, drink mixes, pictures and cartons of his favorite variety of Marlboros. "I would hope that they would change it. It's just ridiculous that they take so much away from our soldiers," Woods said." So wait a minute, let me see if I get this correct. PACT is hurting the Seneca nation, the men and women overseas defending our freedom, and 45 million Americans hopelessly addicted to nicotine who now have a roadblock in front of them to prevent easy access to harm reduced tobacco? Okay. But wait, makes me wonder. Who is PACT benefiting?
Oh, right! I knew someone was to gain from this. The ladies and gents in Washington! In
this article,
"Isn't this about money? Isn't this about taxes?" Arcara pressed. If I grant your stay [meaning, make the Senecas comply fully with the law], what's going to stop a minor from going to 7-Eleven and buying cigarettes?" At the risk of more Americans dying that are addicted to cigarettes and can't access harm reduced alternatives as easy as possible, the cost of jobs and income to the Seneca nation, and cutting off one more thing that our fighting men and women overseas enjoy, it looks like PACT padding the pockets of the fat cats in power is starting to become increasingly unpopular. Will this call for a repeal of the PACT Act? Well, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Could it possibly call for revisions/amendments to the PACT Act? I can't say. But things like this and various other occurances including
NYS seizing tobacco shipments and the
Senecas looking to work around the PACT Act are going to raise awareness. And that's a good thing.
The AP ran a story today about the PACT Act. Uh oh, Big Brother wasn't as sneaky as he thought he was going to be getting this PACT Act passed. The troops are now starting to realize that they can't get their cigarettes mailed overseas anymore. From the article, "Families don't have any other options for shipping cigarettes. The law only affects the U.S. Postal Service because UPS and FedEx do not allow consumer-to-consumer shipping of tobacco." Now, I'm as anti-smoking as anyone. But if a soldier is overseas getting shot at 8 hours a day and they want to smoke at the end of a shift, I'm not going to say anything. Although I would like to send them snus, if I could. PACT is starting to look unpatriotic, according to the article, which in the post-9/11 world is the last thing you want to do. "April Woods, the 26-year-old wife of a Fort Campbell soldier in Afghanistan, used to regularly send him packages of snacks, drink mixes, pictures and cartons of his favorite variety of Marlboros. "I would hope that they would change it. It's just ridiculous that they take so much away from our soldiers," Woods said." So wait a minute, let me see if I get this correct. PACT is hurting the Seneca nation, the men and women overseas defending our freedom, and 45 million Americans hopelessly addicted to nicotine who now have a roadblock in front of them to prevent easy access to harm reduced tobacco? Okay. But wait, makes me wonder. Who is PACT benefiting?
Oh, right! I knew someone was to gain from this. The ladies and gents in Washington! In this article, "Isn't this about money? Isn't this about taxes?" Arcara pressed. If I grant your stay [meaning, make the Senecas comply fully with the law], what's going to stop a minor from going to 7-Eleven and buying cigarettes?" At the risk of more Americans dying that are addicted to cigarettes and can't access harm reduced alternatives as easy as possible, the cost of jobs and income to the Seneca nation, and cutting off one more thing that our fighting men and women overseas enjoy, it looks like PACT padding the pockets of the fat cats in power is starting to become increasingly unpopular. Will this call for a repeal of the PACT Act? Well, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Could it possibly call for revisions/amendments to the PACT Act? I can't say. But things like this and various other occurances including NYS seizing tobacco shipments and the Senecas looking to work around the PACT Act are going to raise awareness. And that's a good thing.
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