Newsday reports:
Nassau Democrats passed a bill Monday to make candy retailers put candy and bubble-gum cigarettes behind the counter, much like real cigarettes.The Nanny State lives!
Despite strong opposition from Republicans and a candy manufacturer, the 10-9 party-line vote came after an hour of contentious disagreement. "Should we encourage 9-year-olds by legitimizing the candy cigarettes like real ones?" asked Legis. John Ciotti (R-North Valley Stream).
But Roger Corbin (D-Westbury), who proposed the bill, said its intention was to make it more difficult for children to get candy cigarettes that could lead them to the real thing. "I've had children in school tell me they thought it would lead to real cigarettes, and there is a study that supports that," Corbin said.
But Bruce Blakeman, the legislature's former Republican presiding officer, called Corbin's study a "survey" that had no scientific, medical or psychiatric basis. "This is not what you were elected to do," said Blakeman, an attorney for Brooklyn-based World Confections Inc.
