Lawmakers to Navy: Keep selling cigarettes
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are pushing back against a Navy review to potentially ban the sale of tobacco products on Navy and Marine Corps facilities, saying it violates servicemembers’ “rights.”
Last month, Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence, a Navy spokeswoman for the secretary, confirmed Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus is taking a new look at tobacco use across the service. A Navy official, who spoke to Stars and Stripes on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the topic, said one option on the table is banning tobacco sales on Navy bases and ships.
“Instead of making unilateral decisions that encroach on the rights and personal freedoms of our servicemen and women, Secretary Mabus should focus resources on preserving the readiness of our Navy and maintaining our national security. I will continue to fight to protect the rights of our American patriots who dedicate their lives to defending our freedom, securing our homeland, and protecting our democracy,” said Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., a member of the House Agricultural Committee from one of the leading tobacco-producing states, in a press release Friday.
“The fact that a ban on sales of a legal product is even being considered is absurd and just another example of this Administration’s desire to regulate every part of our lives,” Hudson said.
http://www.stripes.com/news/lawmakers-to-navy-keep-selling-cigarettes-1.276248
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