Michelle Minton is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Minton specializes in consumer policy, covering regulatory issues that include gambling, tobacco harm reduction, cannabis legalization, alcohol, and nutrition.
Minton has authored numerous studies, including topics like the effectiveness and unintended consequences of sin taxes and history of gambling regulation. Her analyses have been published and cited by nationally respected news outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today as well as peer-reviewed journals. She regularly appears in news media to discuss the unintended effects of laws and rules designed to save adults from their own choices which, not only conflicts with the principle of individual liberty, but often the goals of public health.
Ms. Minton holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Johns Hopkins University and is currently completing her Master of Science degree in Applied Nutrition at the University of New England.
When not working, Minton engages in hands-on “research” in her areas of expertise by spending many hours playing poker, enjoying salty foods, and drinking delicious craft beers.
Authored by Michelle Minton
News
House Vote to End Cannabis Prohibition Complicated by Big Government Provisions
The House today passed legislation that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. CEI led a coalition supporting that provision of the bill. But CEI…
Report: Politics, Not Science, Drives Double Standard on Cannabis, Nicotine Policies
As the House votes on a bill this month to end the federal prohibition on cannabis – once unthinkable – a new Competitive Enterprise…
Repeal #NeverNeeded Regulations Hindering Use of Tech at Home During Deadly Pandemic
The COVID-19 crisis has severely tested individuals and businesses, making access to technologies and services that enabled large swaths of the American economy to move…
Blog
Americans have Grown more Centrist, So Should the Parties
- By: Michelle Minton
This last election was not normal. Record voter turnout, different voting procedures, and polarizing candidates makes comparing this cycle to any other difficult. But looking…
Democrats More at Risk for Anti-E-Cigarette Stance
- By: Michelle Minton
Millions of adult vapers across the country could determine the outcome of the election in battleground states. According to Gallup, about 8 percent of…
How Could We Have Known: Prohibiting E-cigarettes Leads to Smuggling and Smoking
- By: Michelle Minton
Anyone with a passing knowledge of American history is aware of the failures of prohibition. Both the now-repealed ban on alcohol and the ongoing “war…
Op-Eds/Articles
Inside Sources
Drugs (Except Nicotine) Win on Election Day
- By: Michelle Minton
Americans sent a clear message on Election Day that it is time to end the war on drugs. Every ballot measure to decriminalize or legalize…
Washington Times
Should Maryland Decriminalize Sports Betting? Yes.
- By: Michelle Minton
In November, Maryland voters will weigh in on whether sports betting should be legal in the state. Question 2 would allow certain licensed facilities to…
Inside Sources
The Double Standard for Nicotine and Cannabis
- By: Michelle Minton
The U.S. House of Representatives may soon vote on a historic measure to end federal prohibition on cannabis. Ironically, just as the public and political…
Studies
Narrow the Focus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration
- By: Michelle Minton
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may well have taken their eye off the ball by…
Myths and Facts about the Wire Act
- By: Michelle Minton
Full Document Available in PDF Myth: The 1961 Federal Wire was intended to ban all online gambling. Fact: At the time of…
Debunking Myths about Internet Gambling
- By: Michelle Minton
Preventing states from legalizing and regulating online gambling would push American online gamblers back into the black market.
Citations
Reason
Mission Creep and Wasteful Spending Left the CDC Unprepared for an Actual Public Health Crisis
- By: Michelle Minton
Reason cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on the CDC and the nation’s response to COVID-19: “The CDC devolved into an agency incapable of…
Vaping Post
E-Cigarettes and the Creation of Ignorance
- By: Michelle Minton
Vaping Post cites CEI’s study by Senior Fellow Michelle Minton: Michelle Minton writing in, ‘fear Profiteers,’ [26] sums things up thus……
Reason
House-Passed Budget Deal Raises Age to Buy Cigarettes to 21
- By: Michelle Minton
Reason cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on e-cigarettes. As Michelle Minton, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, pointed out in a…