Here are previews of some editorials we’re working on. Let us know what you think. The best comments will run alongside them in the print edition.
–The expected approval Wednesday of the first slot machine gambling license in Maryland is more than just an important milestone in the long-running, politically charged debate about gambling in the state. The grant of a licence for a slots parlor at Ocean Downs is also the first promising sign we’ve seen in more than a year for the state’s coffers. A temporary facility with as many as 500 machines could be running in time for next summer’s tourist season in Ocean City, and while that may not make much of a dent in a $2 billion budget shortfall, it certainly helps.
The Ocean City facility has also been blissfully free of the ethical, legal and political problems that have stymied the development of the likely more lucrative sites planned for Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City. The Ocean Downs site is being developed by a Marylander – Bill Rickman of Montgomery County – who has experience in operating a successful racetrack-casino in Delaware, and it has gotten the approval of local elected officials.
It’s probably naïve to hope that the sight of slots rising in Worcester County will inspire the Arundel County Council to finally make a decision, or for Baltimore officials to make sure we have no more surprises like land swaps or no-bid demolition contracts on the way to a slots site there. But when Maryland voters overwhelmingly supported legalizing slot machines in the 2008 election, they expected more than a few hundred machines on the far eastern edge of the state. They expected a successful, responsibly run program that would help fund state government without more tax increases. Baltimore and Arundel officials need to follow Worcester County’s lead to get us there as soon as possible.
–The Food and Drug Administration’s first act as a regulator of tobacco was a good one: banning sweet, fruit- and candy-flavored cigarettes. Because they mask the harsh taste of tobacco, these products have been particularly attractive to underage smokers, serving as a gateway into a lethal habit. It’s curious that the agency exempted menthol cigarettes from the ban – a decision based, no doubt, on the fact that menthols are vastly more popular with smokers of all ages than the strawberry, chocolate or vanilla varieties that are subject to the order. FDA officials said they’re reviewing menthols, and they shouldn’t hesitate to put them on the banned list as well if they can be determined to have the effect of making smoking more attractive to children.
Federal, state and local officials should be looking at other ways to make sure these starter-sins stay out of the hands of children. Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler’s push to restrict the sales of “alcopops,” sugary alcoholic beverages that are now as widely available as beer, met an inexcusable veto from Gov. Martin O’Malley in 2008. Although the governor has subsequently come around on the issue, the legislature has still been unable to enact restrictions. And Baltimore and state officials have long struggled to restrict the single sales of so-called “little cigars,” products that are taxed and sold as if they were premium cigars instead of what they really are, glorified cigarettes. Mayor Sheila Dixon was able to enact regulations requiring they be sold in packs of five or more, but the change that would really matter – taxing them like cigarettes – has gotten nowhere in Annapolis.
Opponents of such restrictions are right that adults should be able to make decisions that are bad for them, but that argument fails when it comes to products that, intentionally or not, are calibrated to appeal to kids.