FDA’s Low-Nicotine Cigarette Scheme Is an Invitation to Black Market Vendors: New at Reason

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a proposal “to lower nicotine in cigarettes to minimally or non-addictive levels.” In a statement linked to an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb asks “What unintended consequences—such as the potential for illicit trade or for addicted smokers to compensate for lower nicotine by smoking more—might occur as a result?”

J.D. Tuccille is happy to answer that one. This sort of not-quite prohibition isn’t new, writes Tuccille, and it’s guaranteed to have very familiar consequences.

FDA Commissioner Gottlieb’s proposal to mandate low-nicotine cigarettes looks an awful lot like other well-intentioned but presumptuous efforts to substitute the will of regulators for the desires of the public—it’s Prohibition Lite. And like all such efforts, it’s likely to get people turning up their noses and looking for something better.

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