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Writer's pictureMichael Thervil

The Never War On Sugar

We all love it. We all crave it at some point. Its in 95% of the things that we eat. It’s more than likely the first thing we have in the morning, we consume at some point during the day and it’s mostly the last thing we have at night. But yet because of its addictive properties, it silently kills us while leaving a smile on our faces as our health spirals downward towards our death.


The consumption of Sugar has wreaked havoc on us as humans. From diabetes to high blood pressure, inflammation of all kinds, increased weight gain that leads to obesity, to cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression, all the way to increasing cellular aging. But with all the highly known adverse effects that come with sugar consumption - there is hardly anyone in the state and federal governments are willing to do anything about it.

Well, there was the case of New York imposing a Sugar Tax that led to national outrage. The outrage was so bad that it led to a new type of crime and a new type of criminal. The new type of crime and criminal we're talking about is what we like to call “sugar smuggling” and “sugar smugglers” (respectively). You heard right, people would cross state lines into neighboring states such as New Jersey to purchase highly processed sugary laced products such as Cokes and other soft drinks, various candies, and ultra processed foods and smuggle those products back to New York in order to circumvent what was known as the “Sugar Tax”. There were even cases where people would resale those products that they smuggled across state lines at a higher price to people so the “sugar junkies” could get their fix.

Not only that, but local businesses also suffered losses in their profit margins because of the Sugar Tax that was imposed on them because they offered sugary products on their shelves. Virtually all restaurants in the state of New York suffered because just about all of the restaurants had a Coke or Pepsi machine in their dining establishments. It was a big financial blow to soft drink manufacturers that did business in New York. But in hindsight (which is always 20/20) for many people who watched the “Sugar Tax Sugar Rush” in real time, can now see the need for such draconian measures as far as taxing products with sugar in them.

That need of the New York Sugar Tax was actually spot on because if you currently look at the children of the past when the New York Sugar Tax was passed now that they are adults; they’re even more obese now, than what they were back then. In fact, many are doomed to an earlier fast-tracked death then what they previously were. And guess what, it’s the nation's taxpayers that must pay for their funnel expenses because the lord knows the economy hasn’t gotten any better since then.

The problematic issues that come from sugar consumption lie beyond people not getting enough exercise. It has more to do with the fact that sugar is highly addictive and has the ability to alter the function of dopamine levels and receptors in the brain; meaning the more you taste sugar the more you’ll want it. It has been reported by health experts and medical doctors that people can, have, and will suffer from withdrawals at some point from sugar. For a point of reference, in 1979 a Politician by the name of Dan White had a first-degree murder charge downgraded to a involuntary manslaughter conviction because of his consumption of sugar which had the ability to alter his mind state. This is now known as the “Twinkie Defense.” According to Cornell Law School:

“The term "Twinkie defense" is an umbrella term that, in the most general sense, refers to an unconventional defensive argument. The term originated from the 1979 trial of Dan White, a San Francisco politician, who was charged with first-degree murder. A testifying psychiatrist pointed out that White's consumption of sugary foods, such as Twinkies, could lead to diminished capacity. Using this testimony, White's lawyer was successfully able to persuade the jury that White lacked the premeditation and deliberation elements necessary to establish first-degree murder. As a result, White was ultimately convicted of a lighter offense of involuntary manslaughter.”

This is something to think about because sugars of all kinds whether it be raw, processed and or refined, corn or fruit syrup will slowly kill you over time. The war on sugar is a kind of “Never War” that we will never see and that will never be mentioned because both the federal and state governments will never declare war on it despite the fact that it kills its own citizens. Why? Because there's too much money to be made from it including money to be made from our deaths.


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