Illinois is one step closer to taking away yet, another freedom from you by raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21. Let’s stop them now.

*CALL ANY AND ALL FROM THE ILLINOIS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND TELL THEM TO PLEASE VOTE AGAINST THE BILL TO RAISE THE LEGAL SMOKING AGE TO 21 .*

http://www.ilga.gov/house/default.asp

Over the 16 years in business, I’ve done whatever I could to refrain from political opinions. But please, permit me this one exception.

If an 18 year-old can sign up for the military, they should be able to choose whether or not to smoke or vape. That’s a fact. People in this country can have a choice to make their own decisions. Not have the government do it for them. Now, the state is trying to change a decades-old law by raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.

In 2009, the federal government decided to raise taxes on tobacco by an insulting 156%. That took a good chunk out of businesses such as mine and started increasing the trend of cheaper options such as roll-your-own and e-cigarettes. 

In 2012, the scumbag governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, thought it was cute to do the same for the state alone by raising it $1 a pack and 18% on all loose tobacco and cigars. Apparently, the whole “we need money” thing hasn’t worked out very well as Illinois has the fourth largest tobacco tax in the country. In ten years, the average pack of cigarettes has doubled. I still make the same amount of money on a pack of cigarettes as I did in 2002. The difference is that the pack of cigarettes cost about $5 more. Helping vote this crud out of office in 2014 was very euphoric.

This is not a Democrat/Republican-Liberal/Conservative issue. Nobody wins in this case. And if Illinois passes this bill to raise the legal smoking age, they are going to be losing way more money. And so will businesses such as mine. There are plenty of reports out there of citizens fleeing this state because of the corruption and costs. This is one reason why. And we all know that taxes will get raised again.

I know, this is the state of Illinois after all. The same state that sent four out of six governors to prison. It’s scumbags lining their pockets off of us. It’s time we stop them from making choices for us. If you are reading this, this concerns you. Let’s stop them in their tracks.