Attorneys General on the tobacco warpath

[rothenbj]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/b...-tobacco-products.html?hpw&rref=business&_r=0

E Cigs not included, interesting.

 

[Stosh]

All in all, rather silly.
Any dedicated smoker is going to find a store that sells cigarettes, it will just be a little more inconvenient. If you're addicted to smoking, you will seek them out anywhere.

And any non-smoker is not going to see a display in a drug store and think..."ohhh, these must be good for me, let me get a couple packs and try smoking"....

But it got his name in the paper....with elections coming up...not a total FAIL

 

[NorthOfAtlanta]

I like the Kroger spokesmans answer.

A spokesman for Kroger said that the company believed in customer choice for its adult consumers.

 

[Jman8]

From article:

“There is a contradiction in having these dangerous and devastating tobacco products on the shelves of a retail chain that services health care needs...”

Totally cool if you sell alcohol, or lots and lots and lots of candy, or junk food, or lots of over priced products that are far less expensive elsewhere. We are totally okay with that.

But we are only thinking about the children and lower income people when we tell you to stop selling cigarettes. CVS did it, so now you do it. Do it!

No peer pressure, but do it!

 

[Kent C]

But it got his name in the paper....with elections coming up...not a total FAIL

I've been thinking about this.... how we could be considered a 'voting block'. We know that our membership here has exploded. I used to track how many members joined each year. Forget how to get those numbers now. And I know those numbers only represent a segment of all ecig users, our numbers would likely represent even more than most 'professional polls' where, depending on the sample is only a percentage, but can be fairly accurate. And I'm thinking that the 'number' who would be against regulations is far more than the mere membership as I have about 20+ people who are glad I've quit smoking. That extended number would really be hard to calculate...

The other numbers considered is the number of smokers. I don't have the numbers at hand but I know for a long time, about 23% of the population in the US smoked. I think that number is (or they've cooked it) to be around 18% now and of course, the ANTZ like to make patches, gum and Chantix responsible for that drop, but I'm wondering if the increase in our membership here would extrapolate out to be more operational than the other alternatives.

I've been around since 2009 and have seen a lot of people who were regulars who left and/or stopped posting and in some cases never to be seen or heard of again, but around 2011, I started seeing some returning - 'went back on cigarettes, because ecigs weren't working for me but I see there's new products out there and I'd like to try them again.....' or similar. Now, a week doesn't go by where I see at least one of these type of posts. That's anecdotal and would really be hard to count but it is a factor. Once 'exposed' many return.

Anyway, I'm guessing that the 'voting block' of just users likely isn't much more than 2 or 3% but the extended numbers of people who like that we're not smoking might expand that percentage. Whether a poltico would count that, hard telling. But along with money, votes are also a consideration for them.

 

[Vocalek]

From article:



Totally cool if you sell alcohol, or lots and lots and lots of candy, or junk food, or lots of over priced products that are far less expensive elsewhere. We are totally okay with that.

But we are only thinking about the children and lower income people when we tell you to stop selling cigarettes. CVS did it, so now you do it. Do it!

No peer pressure, but do it!

But, Mom, all the other kids are jumping off a cliff!

 

[Vocalek]

<snip>
The other numbers considered is the number of smokers. I don't have the numbers at hand but I know for a long time, about 23% of the population in the US smoked. I think that number is (or they've cooked it) to be around 18% now and of course, the ANTZ like to make patches, gum and Chantix responsible for that drop, but I'm wondering if the increase in our membership here would extrapolate out to be more operational than the other alternatives.

<snip>

An article by Azim Chowdhury in the March 2014 issue of tobacco Reporter had this to say on the topic:

A recent, much publicized survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that the percentage of students from grades six through 12 that had used an e-cigarette doubled to 6.8 percent from 3.3 percent in 2012. It has subsequently been revealed, however, that nine out of 10 high school students in that survey who reported vaping in the previous month were already cigarette smokers, suggesting that the increase in e-cigarette use is a positive step toward harm reduction.20 Moreover, despite concerns that e-cigarettes could lead to an increase in youth smoking, new data are demonstrating that youth smoking rates reached a record low in 2013.21 This is in line with the CDC’s announcement last year that the overall U.S. smoking rate has declined for the first time in several years (to 18 percent of the population down from 20–21 percent).22 It is unclear whether the sudden decrease in cigarette smoking and the corresponding increase in e-cigarette vaping is merely coincidence, but it is certainly hard to ignore.23

Sorry, can't supply a link as they haven't posted the March 2014 issue online yet.

But here are the footnote references:

20 See Jacob Sullem, “CDC belatedly reveals that smoking by teenagers dropped while vaping rose,” Forbes.com (Nov. 20, 2013), available online at www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/20...moking-by-teenagersdropped- while-vaping-rose.
21 See University of Michigan News, “Teen smoking continues to decline in 2013,” available online at http://monitoringthefuture.org/pressreleases/13cigpr_complete.pdf.
22 See “Current Smoking” section in “Early release of selected estimates based on data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), June 18, 2013, available online at www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/earlyrelease201306_08.pdf.
23 See Michael Siegel, “National study of adults can find only six nonsmokers who have ever tried electronic cigarettes,” The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary Blog (May 8, 2013), available online at http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/05/national-study-of-adults-can-find-only.html.

 

[Kent C]

Thanks Elaine!

 

[hippiebrian]

So a parent can bring their obese child to get their diabetes medicine to, say, Rite Aid, and walk out with 5 liters of soda, an ice cream cone and as much candy as they can carry but it's wrong for then to see a cigarette pack being sold? Who believes this malarkey?

An alcoholic can get his/her liver medication and buy a fifth but not a pack of smokes?

A jheart patient can get their heart medication, an ice cream cone and a dozen Slim Jims but no smokes?

Does anyone else see the hypocracy here? People are just stupid.

 

[rothenbj]

So a parent can bring their obese child to get their diabetes medicine to, say, Rite Aid, and walk out with 5 liters of soda, an ice cream cone and as much candy as they can carry but it's wrong for then to see a cigarette pack being sold? Who believes this malarkey?

An alcoholic can get his/her liver medication and buy a fifth but not a pack of smokes?

A jheart patient can get their heart medication, an ice cream cone and a dozen Slim Jims but no smokes?

Does anyone else see the hypocracy here? People are just stupid.

Hey, there are states that sell beer and alcohol (in yummy flavors) in grocery stores, including Super Walmarts. I found it interesting that in California, a state that seems intent on shutting ot e cigs, is one of those states. Ask them to ban something that resembles something else that might kill you 40=50 years later. However, keep selling something that could lead to morbidity or mortality within the next 24 hours. Somehow concern for the children has been forgotten.