Blunts and other smokes in the legislature

Eric Fodor

The lame-duck Illinois House is considering legislation that would ban so-called "blunt wraps," or bigger sheets of rolling paper used to make cigars.

The lame-duck Illinois House is considering legislation that would ban so-called "blunt wraps," or bigger sheets of rolling paper used to make cigars.

Blunt wraps are often used by marijuana smokers to roll cigarettes, presumably bigger ones than the joints of olden days. Chicago Democratic Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, a proponent of the legislation, said teenagers often are the users of blunt wraps, according to The Associated Press.

A measure to ban the items passed the state senate 56-0 last month, but had not been brought for a vote or debate in the House.

Representatives of tobacco products distributors testified during a hearing that cigar wraps are a popular product sold with tobacco because people are saving money by rolling their own cigars, according to the AP article. Must be true -- if you can't trust tobacco lobbyists, who can you trust?

Meanwhile, the state Senate is likely to consider a new cigarette tax eventually. Columnist Rich Miller has reported Senate President John Cullerton considers a cigarette tax increase an important agenda item this year because of the revenue potential of such a hike.

Cullerton also said a higher cigarette tax would reduce Medicaid costs and perhaps induce more people to quit smoking, thus lowering health care costs generally.

I leave it to the reader to ponder the extent to which these issues are interrelated, or not.