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Smoking cigarettes is a deadly habit. But if you were hoping it would be inexpensive to quit, Washington Democrats have something to say about it. In fact, they won’t even make it easy for you.

imposes an additional tax of up to 95% of the sale on all tobacco-free nicotine products, which include nicotine gum, pouches, patches, and vapes. It also bans flavored nicotine products.

As is often the case, Washington Democrats say they’re doing this to protect kids. The bill claims, for example, that “The growing market for…nicotine products is undermining the nation’s progress in reducing overall youth tobacco use.” This is nonsensical, of course. Washington Democrats are targeting tobacco-free products that contain nicotine.

Their targets are the very products smokers use to stop their deadly habit.

Nicotine isn’t the problem

Nicotine, by itself, is not the harmful chemical in cigarettes. It does not cause cancer. It doesn鈥檛 contain tar, carbon monoxide, or the 70+ carcinogens found in burning tobacco.

According to , nicotine 鈥渄oes not appear to be a significant health hazard鈥� when delivered in clean forms like patches, gum, lozenges, or pouches. In fact, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) that nicotine is “no more harmful to health than caffeine.”

In fact, nicotine replacement therapies have been FDA-approved and widely used for decades to help people quit smoking鈥攏ot because they’re harmless placebos, but because they’re a cleaner way to give your brain what it’s craving without torching your lungs.

Nicotine is also a legitimate cognitive enhancer. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have shown it boosts attention, short-term memory, and reaction time. And a 2010 review in found that nicotine improves performance on tasks involving attention, working memory, and fine motor skills.

And appealing flavors鈥攜es, adults like flavors, too, not just kids鈥攎ake it easier to transition from cigarettes to gum, lozenges, or pouches.

Cigarettes are the problem

The moment you light a cigarette, you鈥檙e creating combustion products鈥攁nd that鈥檚 where the real health problem starts.

You鈥檙e inhaling tar, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, benzene, arsenic, formaldehyde, and a parade of other carcinogens. Cigarette smoke contains at least , according to the CDC. That includes chemicals also found in rat poison, lighter fluid, and industrial solvents.

The damage doesn鈥檛 stop at cancer, either. Cigarettes wreck your cardiovascular system by promoting inflammation and oxidative stress. That leads to heart disease, stroke, and more.

Why are Democrats making smoking cessation products more expensive?

The Democratic-controlled government says it wants you to quit smoking鈥攂ut then jacks up taxes on the very products that help you do it? That鈥檚 not public health policy. That鈥檚 a shakedown for more tax dollars disguised as concern. They have a $16 billion deficit they need to fill, and they’re so desperate and greedy that they’ll prey on people who are trying to quit smoking and save their own lives.

Sin taxes were meant to offset the public costs of unhealthy behaviors. Smoking? Sure. But nicotine pouches like Zyn? Gum? Those don鈥檛 carry anywhere near the same health burden. In fact, they help lower it.

So what鈥檚 the justification? There isn鈥檛 one鈥攐ther than the fact that it鈥檚 an easy cash grab because some Washingtonians are hooked. Typical Democratic move: 鈥淲e want you to quit…but not without paying us first.鈥�

Washington Democrats are just protecting cigarettes

Ironically, high taxes on safer nicotine products end up protecting cigarettes, even if Democrats want to in new fees. If it costs nearly as much to buy a pouch as it does to light up a Marlboro, some people will just stick with the cigarette.

If Democrats were truly pro-health, they’d ban the deadly product, not generate more tax revenue off of it. And they’d make it聽肠丑别补辫别谤听to purchase smoking cessation products, not demonize them as if they’re as deadly as cigarettes. They certainly wouldn’t pretend they’re doing it to protect kids. After all, it’s already illegal to sell to children.

鈥婼weden’s “ultra-low smoking rate” is to the widespread use of alternative nicotine products like . According to a report by the Tax Foundation, Sweden’s embrace of alternative tobacco products has driven the nation’s smoking rate to the lowest level in the EU.聽Democrats love to borrow initiatives or strategies from Europe, but I guess only if they’re socialist in nature?

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the聽podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on聽,听,听, and聽.