Hawaii raises smoking age to 21; military supports new law

I`ve been smoking for 40 years and personally I think they should make it illegal for everyone but since it is legal it should be legal for all adults 18 and older.
18 year olds are considered adults and face adult consequences for their actions,18 year olds can be forcibly conscripted into the military to kill people.

Taylor Dwyer, 21, also an Army X-ray technician, said smoking is a "way for us to come down after the work day. It's not like a regular work day. It's a lot more stressful, especially for people who are in combat jobs."

Rear Adm. John Fuller, commander of Navy Region Hawaii, countered those arguments in a blog post, saying "If someone is young enough to fight for their country, they should be free from addiction to a deadly drug."

www.msn.com...

did he just say that if you are young enough to die for your country you should do it free from an addicting deadly drug?
is he worried that young people will die from cigarette smoking before the military can get them killed in battle?
does this mean that if the draft is reinstituted that the military won`t accept smokers?
why is 21 years old old enough to kill and die for your country even if you are addicted to a deadly drug but under 21 isn`t old enough?

in fact why would the military even comment on something like this, after 20 years people can retire from the military and most people survive 20 years of smoking.
The military should be more concerned that half of americans are too obese or unhealthy to even pass basic military physical training.
during the last forced conscription that America had during the Vietnam war they weren`t too particular about who they forced into dieing for the country.

why does the government get to decide who can who cannot buy a deadly addictive drug that they make a ton of money from?
never mind that question answered itself.

a reply to: Tardacus

Wow..from a smoker yourself...thats quite a statement. Although not a smoker myself, I couldnt agree more. Happy New Year!

MS

a reply to: Tardacus
Sometimes, the stupidity of our public servants is truly astounding. If a person is old enough to vote, and serve in the military, they are old enough to make bad decisions like smoking.

This is what government does. It makes criminals out of law abiding citizens with the stroke of a pen.

Technically nicotine isn't the deadly part, it's all the carcinogens in the cigarette that make them deadly, nicotine is the addictive part though.

I do agree though if you're old enough to serve, you should be old enough to drink and smoke if you so choose

More interestingly though if the military has taken interest in this are they going to court martial anyone above 21 who happens to offer a cigarette to a "minor" ?

I don't have a source for this, but I've been hearing that Hawai'i is considering raising the drinking age to 25.

Hadn't yet heard about the 21 tobacco laws, but apparently the state is trying to raise the legal ages for more than just tobacco. Whatever the reasons may be, such things would certainly have an impact on tourism.

a reply to: Tardacus

I`ve been smoking for 40 years and personally I think they should make it illegal for everyone but since it is legal it should be legal for all adults 18 and older.

I agree that it should be legal at 18 if that is the age of adulthood, however, I disagree that it should be completely illegal. I don't like cigarettes or smoking in general, but I see no reason it should be illegal. It goes against my Libertarian sensibilities.

I just find it kind of insulting to my intelligence that a rear admiral would say:

"If someone is young enough to fight for their country, they should be free from addiction to a deadly drug."

to do it.
that doesn`t even make any sense to me.
I joined the air force when I was 17, I smoked , I drank, I did drugs and nobody ever said to me " your young enough to do those things but you aren't acceptable to be in the air force".
so what`s changed?
These young people have volunteered to die for you ,so don`t be an asshole.

The military doesn't "support" the law. They are generally required to follow state and federal law like everyone else.

After having kids from ministry group homes stay at our house and things that went missing, and getting the low down on what they do, have to say, if teens were not criminalized for smoking, nearly all the crimes from them would disappear and very few would ever join gangs. I know that the reason this is done, is to create tools, destabilization.

I don't care about things like that, not a nazi in the least.

1. I don't wish for power over anyone, its completely foreign to me.

2. I don't stand by for those who are grabbing power over others, because they're mentally unbalanced, which is what all the ptb agents in our world are. I speak up and get their faces. And don't comply with bad orders. And teach kids not to stand under corruption or power grabbers either.

a reply to: Tardacus

I am in Hawaii, and I just found out about this a couple days ago. What the #? So, we are getting marijuana dispensaries in 2016, but they are raising the smoking age? I think there may be a correlation.

Anyway, I believe in freedom for all, as long as you are not harming someone else, you have a right to harm yourself. What a stupid law.

originally posted by: projectvxn
The military doesn't "support" the law. They are generally required to follow state and federal law like everyone else.

The U.S. Army, the Department of the Navy and the Marine Corps have each announced their support of Hawaii's new law. Some have criticized the military for this, arguing that a person old enough to die for their country should be able to decide for themselves whether to smoke.
www.huffingtonpost.com...

Yes they do.

Now, we should raise the age of consent for a young person to volunteer to "die for their country" to the age of 21, or even 25!

Can't drink, can't smoke..........but you can volunteer to go out and murder and be murdered in the US Military?

a reply to: Tardacus

You beat me to it. That sentence doesn't even make sense from a semantic perspective. The fact that it was uttered by a military flag officer is most disconcerting.

-dex

a reply to: windword

The military must abide by all regulations of a state. They can add on but not take away as far as how service members will be affected.