Tucker Carlson ridiculed for claiming ‘nicotine frees your mind’ amid bizarre monologue

Tucker Carlson has been ranting again, and this time he’s turned his attention to nicotine and the sale of cigarettes.

The Fox News host criticised efforts to ban menthol cigarettes in the US on the Friday edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, and claimed that it was "a human right" to buy them.

He also spoke about THC, which is the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and said the initiatives to ban menthols are “promoting weed to your children”.

“It’s not because they hate tobacco. They don’t care about your health. They closed the gyms during Covid. Anyone that closes gyms during a pandemic that kills people who are fat clearly doesn’t care about your health at all,” he said.

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“They hate nicotine. They love THC. They’re promoting weed to your children but they’re not letting you use tobacco. Even non-tobacco delivery devices which don’t cause cancer.”

He added: “Why do they hate nicotine? Because nicotine frees your mind, and THC makes you compliant and passive, that’s why. They hate it. It’s a real threat to them.”

It comes after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes in 2022.

The comments provoked a big reaction on social media, with many criticising Carlson for his comments

“It's cool to see that ChatGPT is so mainstream that it's replacing cable news writers,” one joked.

“Is Don Draper writing copy for this clown??” another commented.

One more wrote: “Gotta be satire.”

It’s not the first time Carlson has been making headlines this week, after the host tore into New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern time in office just moments after she announced she was stepping down.

Carlson ripped into her record, referring to her as the "lady with the big teeth".

“What are the chances she was a puppet of the Chinese government? We don’t have enough evidence to prove that, but we would rate that as about 100 percent likely,” he said in baseless claims.

“An appalling abuser of human rights of her own people."

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