Lance Dutson: Portland is a great city. Low crime, clean, beautiful. But good lord, could you please quit the nanny-state nonsense? Last week the Portland City Council voted to raise the minimum age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21. Smoking is terrible, but at what point will the people of Portland be allowed to live their own lives?
Steven Biel: Once again you’re letting ideology get in the way of effective policy. Here are some facts: Smoking lowers life expectancy by 10 years. Over 90 percent of smokers get hooked before they turn 21. And if you make it to your 26th birthday without starting smoking, there’s virtually no chance you ever will. That’s why the Portland City Council — and especially Ed Suslovic, who led the charge — deserve enormous credit for taking action.
Lance: An 18-year-old can be sent to war, but that same 18-year-old can’t buy cigarettes until he turns 21? Can you imagine a soldier coming home from serving overseas and not even being able to light up a butt?
Steven: The military would love to see rates of smoking go down, too — but it’s almost impossible for them to do that as long as new recruits are showing up already addicted.
Lance: Look, at 18, you’re an adult. You can vote. You pay taxes. You can be tried and sentenced as an adult in court. And Portland does this just a year after deciding to tax plastic grocery bags and ban styrofoam coffee cups? Is there no limit to the ways liberals want to control people’s lives?
Steven: Portland heard the same complaints about big government when we ended smoking in bars and restaurants. The restaurant industry will crash and burn, people said. People will flock to smoke in the restaurants of Gorham, Falmouth and South Portland.
Last time I checked our restaurant industry is doing pretty great. In fact, towns across the state have followed our lead because it turns out people like restaurants that don’t smell like an ashtray.
Lance: Look, I recognize that smoking is a major public health issue. But cars killed 30,000 people in the U.S. last year, and no one wants to raise the driving age to 21. Heart disease kills 610,000 Americans every year, but we don’t ban people from eating cheeseburgers.
And while Portland wastes time on this hopeless attempt to save people from themselves, rents are through the roof, there’s a housing shortage and the city needs more businesses to come and grow in order to continue serving as the economic engine for the state. Aren’t those the issues Portland government should be focused on?
Steven: Don’t worry, Portland can walk and chew Nicorette at the same time. But I can see you’re still not convinced, so let me try to put this in terms you as a conservative can understand. Forget about saving lives. This will save money.
The health effects of smoking cost $170 billion a year. When a teenager starts smoking, they’re locking in a lifetime of chronic health problems — that you and I pay for in the form of higher insurance premiums and Medicare costs. How can you defend that?
Lance: You’re dreaming. Raising the age limit to buy cigarettes won’t do diddly to curb smoking. All someone has to do is go a couple miles into a neighboring town, and they can buy all the smokes they want. Portland gets to feel good implementing a useless law, but the standard is set that individual freedom is the lowest priority.
Steven: We know raising the smoking age works because 21 has been the law of the land for years in cities like Chicago, New York and Cleveland, and they’ve seen smoking rates decline. Though it’s true that it’ll work better if surrounding cities and towns follow our lead like they did on the restaurant smoking ban. And I have a hunch many will.
Lance: Don’t count on it. More likely the rest of the state will look at Portland, roll their eyes, and get ready to vote Republican. Again.
Steven Biel is former campaign director for MoveOn.org and president of the Portland-based political consulting firm Steven Biel Strategies. Lance Dutson, a principal of Red Hill Strategies, is a Republican communications consultant. He has served on the campaign teams of U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Kelly Ayotte, as well as the Maine Republican Party.