Back in the early 20th century, many were concerned about the dangers of alcohol for our nation.
Congress responded with a constitutional amendment banning the manufacture, sale and importation of alcoholic beverages.
Prohibition gave us public disrespect for a law on a scale never before seen. The vast profits in bootleg booze gave us modern organized crime, as well - a gift that keeps on giving.
Skip ahead a few decades. Starting in the 1960s, we became concerned about the health effects of cigarettes and tobacco in general. TV advertising was banned. Taxes on tobacco rose and kept rising. And more recently, most flavored cigarettes were outlawed.
Except for menthol. But that's going to change.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday it will ban menthol-flavored cigarettes and flavored cigars within a year.
But is that a step too far?
More than a third of cigarettes sold in the U.S. are menthols. So the things are popular with millions of smokers.
Will they just give up their menthols? Or will the ban fuel an illicit market in menthol smokes?
Organized crime families already make a lot of money smuggling cigarettes from Native American reservations and low-tax states like North Carolina to those with much higher levies, like New York, a practice known as "buttlegging." We doubt enterprising mobsters will miss this new opportunity to manufacture menthols and supply a willing market.
And let's not forget that most African American smokers prefer menthols. Tensions between the Black community and the police wouldn't be helped by any degree of public enforcement of the menthol ban.
The FDA has good intentions. And most would argue the health benefits will outweigh any possible unintended consequences.
Maybe so. But that's what they said about Prohibition.