(TheIndependentStar.com) – Rebuking Joe Biden’s hypocritical approach towards drug legalization, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas launched a scathing critique of the Biden administration, asserting it is engaging in discriminatory practices against African-American smokers while simultaneously promoting marijuana legalization for white college students.
In a post made on X, Senator Cotton focused on current efforts by a combination of health organizations and politicians urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enact a ban on menthol cigarettes.
He explicitly stated, “Joe Biden wants to ban menthol cigarettes, which are favored by black smokers. Meanwhile, he wants to legalize weed for white college kids and mail out free crack pipes.”
Cotton’s critique extends to the administration’s paternalistic and hypocritical stance, arguing that such a ban would inadvertently benefit Mexican cartels and Hezbollah by fostering a substantial black market.
He also implicates Mike Bloomberg in influencing this policy, referencing Bloomberg’s 2021 opinion piece that advocated for the FDA to consider a ban on these cigarettes. Bloomberg’s article pointed to data allegedly showing a link between menthol cigarettes and an additional 378,000 premature deaths between 1980 and 2018.
The FDA proposed the ban in 2022 but has not yet finalized it. This delay has led to a coalition advocating for the ban’s implementation, facing resistance from both tobacco companies and some criminal justice reform advocates.
A notable opponent is Reverend Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network group sent a letter last year to the administration, expressing concerns about the potential negative impact of such a ban on Black communities. The letter questioned why products preferred by Black adult smokers might be banned while drugs favored by others would remain legal and accessible.
Senator Cotton also references a 2022 report from The Washington Free Beacon stating that federal funds were used to supply drug users with free crack pipes as part of “safe-smoking kits.” The Biden administration has contested the accuracy of this report.
