Oh boy, here we go.  The government that doesn't regulate weight loss supplements is now going to ban cloves, the flavored cigarettes for those who want to look cool and smoke, but can't handle the actual smoking.  The reasoning?  It's a "gateway to smoking" says our ever omniscient elected/appointed officials.

The only thing I can really say is, "huh?"  I mean, isn't that why marijuana is illegal?  Wow, great job controlling THAT.  Oddly, I've heard some very compelling arguments about why pot is less dangerous than alcohol (also once banned but now freely available to adults over 21) but I haven't had a chance to dissect them and won't get into them here.  Point being, why the hell add more substances to the illegal list when we haven't got a handle on the ones on it?  And making it illegal doesn't make it go away. 

At some point we have to have the freedom to choose our own lifestyle.  Isn't that what makes America unique?  Is it because of the health dangers?  Nope, there is a label on every single package.  Is it really about the money that it costs taxpayers in health care? Nope, vouchers for private insurance would fix that.  It's about the politics of trying to get re-elected by paying back the interests of the large, liberal groups that paid the money that got our current politicians in office.  Not to say that we wouldn't have the same problem if the elections had swung the other way, just different people appeasing different interests.  Kinda makes me sick.