Dem Mayor Bill de Blasio Wants to Raise Cigarette Prices to $13 a Pack

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is cracking down on cigarette smokers in New York City. 

The liberal democrat is pushing to raise the minimum price for a pack of cigarettes to a record setting $13, which he says would be the nation's highest.

His overall goal is to reduce the number of smokers in the city by 160,000 people.

With help from the city council, de Blasio also wants to cut in half the number of licenses issued to retailers to sell tobacco products. Philadelphia and San Francisco have similar licensing restrictions.

In May of 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it will regulate all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah tobacco and pipe tobacco, among others.  Until now, the FDA could only regulate cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.

As Democrats continue to financially outlaw tobacco products, they will continue to outlaw vast majorities of Americans.