Historic anti-smoking vote to give FDA new power

[AnglVapin]

Here's the official story on today's Senate vote:

Historic anti-smoking vote to give FDA new power - Yahoo! News

From the article:

WASHINGTON – Congress struck the government's strongest anti-smoking blow in decades Thursday with a Senate vote to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people.
Cigarette foes say the changes could cut into the 400,000 deaths every year caused by smoking and reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco.
The legislation, one of the most dramatic anti-smoking initiatives since the U.S. surgeon general's warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.


Ivisi

There is no way for me to see a sugar-coated view of this......

While what we use is not a tobacco product, per se.... the nicotine writing is on the wall.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Not if the nicotine comes from a source other than tobacco.

 

[Sun Vaporer]

The writting has been on the wall for coming on 6 months---yes there is no way to sugar coat it--Sun

 

[Surf Monkey]

We'll see. The bill isn't law yet, and when it is we don't know exactly how it will be interpreted. It's still a waiting game right now.

 

[Smokingfreely]

Well I know that the stated $100 billion dollars a year health costs of smokers is just a lie ....and what bothers me is that the people making all the lies must also know they are telling lies. It's very nice to have people worrying about my health but why are they telling 'lies'. What is that all about??

I would bet if you researched the hhs or medicare site long enough you'd find this figure. The real problem here is correlation is often conflated with causation in health statistics. I have sold products in the respiratory and geriatric industries, and I can tell it is a very large market and largely made up of medicare recipients. Grandma sally's COPD costs us a fair amount of money, and I have a problem with that personally. However, to reach $100b billion annually, I suspect they include a lot of conditions in which smoking was involved, but not neccsarily directly causing. A smoker devlops asthma attacks, but has a family history of asthma issues that affect smokers and non-smokers alike - this will likely get linked into the smoking related illness category, etc.

Sadly, indigent care / medicare / medicaide, etc. draws a LOT of money from the community coffers. Stopping this hemorrhaging of public funds should be something we should all agree is neccessary. Will this bill save us money over the long run - I certainly doubt it. The administration of these new responsibilities for the FDA is going to cost us more money. Will this be offset by lowered health costs - I suspect the opposite to occur personally. Safer alternatives will essentially be banned before the fact. Companies likely won't even be interested in developing new tobacco products due to the increased costs and the implausibility of even getting approval for product trials. Why would the FDA approve a product for testing that served no therapeutic benefit? People that might have tried a safer alternative will be denied those alternatives, and we'll still be stuck footing the bill.

Conversely, if we encouraged safer alternatives, we could really lower the cost to public health from nicotine addiction. However, the only people making those arguments have been crucified by the media as being the mouths of big tobacco.

 

[MiloB]

So is everyone stocking up on atty's, batts and Juice? How much Juice do you all normally have in storage?

Milo

 

[TropicalBob]

Oh Surf Monkey, I'm surprised that you can't read these tea leaves. My, my. You seem smart. You don't really ... nah.

 

[Tallulah]

Create the disease, create the cure. Capitalism at its finest.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Oh Surf Monkey, I'm surprised that you can't read these tea leaves. My, my. You seem smart. You don't really ... nah.

I think there's enough money to be made here that a way around the law will be found... and quickly. Plus, there's going to be some additional lead time before anything happens anyway.

Does that mean I'm not stocking up on hardware and consumables? Hells no.

 

[AnglVapin]

Not if the nicotine comes from a source other than tobacco.

What are "candied tobacco products?" How much tobacco or nicotine do they contain?

Oh, is that those little sugary candy sticks that look like a very lame cigarette that they are calling a "tobacco product"...................

 

[happily]

Create the disease, create the cure. Capitalism at its finest.

Now we're making sense

I think there's enough money to be made here that a way around the law will be found... and quickly. Plus, there's going to be some additional lead time before anything happens anyway.
.

Money is only the solution if you have more than Phillip Morris

I do believe that a "personal vaporizer" can be imported into the country. I just don't believe you'll be able to get caught using it.

 

[Webby]

So is everyone stocking up on atty's, batts and Juice? How much Juice do you all normally have in storage?

Milo

ML or USG?

The bigger (and unanswered) question is how all this is going to affect any of us. Taking grape cigars off the market is one thing and from what I've read, it's a 3-9 month process on pretty much everything this underfunded agency is planning to do TOBACCO products anyway.

Does that mean they won't stop imports? Hardly.

It's like the drug trade. Local cops don't need infrared aerial surveillance.

They target apartments with heavy late night walk-in traffic. It isn't difficult to compile a list of suppliers and resellers' addresses. Anything coming to or from those places are subject to aggressive search and seizure. Your 510 kit or JC Juice-of-the-Month being shipped from flagged US/UK resellers will be USPS/UPS/FedEx snagged as will ANYTHING coming from China.

Of course, this won't matter anyway - when analogs go to $47.50 a pack there will be a massive DEA problem of dopers converting their hydroponic basements into growing hybrid tobacco instead of pot. At some point, the smoking public just won't be able to support the massive bills for all this progressive "change"

You think the drug problems of the 60s and 70s were bad? Take millions of nicotine addicts, put their traditional nicotine fixes financially out of reach and remove PVs from the market.

of course what do I know...it worked so well for Prohibition and the war on drugs...

 

[Ivisi]

ML or USG?

The bigger (and unanswered) question is how all this is going to affect any of us. Taking grape cigars off the market is one thing and from what I've read, it's a 3-9 month process on pretty much everything this underfunded agency is planning to do TOBACCO products anyway.

Does that mean they won't stop imports? Hardly.

It's like the drug trade. Local cops don't need infrared aerial surveillance.

They target apartments with heavy late night walk-in traffic. It isn't difficult to compile a list of suppliers and resellers' addresses. Anything coming to or from those places are subject to aggressive search and seizure. Your 510 kit or JC Juice-of-the-Month being shipped from flagged US/UK resellers will be USPS/UPS/FedEx snagged as will ANYTHING coming from China.

Of course, this won't matter anyway - when analogs go to $47.50 a pack there will be a massive DEA problem of dopers converting their hydroponic basements into growing hybrid tobacco instead of pot. At some point, the smoking public just won't be able to support the massive bills for all this progressive "change"

You think the drug problems of the 60s and 70s were bad? Take millions of nicotine addicts, put their traditional nicotine fixes financially out of reach and remove PVs from the market.

of course what do I know...it worked so well for Prohibition and the war on drugs...

"Our nic sniffing dog hit on your battery, so that's paraphernalia. Also, that gives us probable cause to search your car. Come with me."

"Atomizer in the center console, Sarge."

But I, for one, don't believe nicotine use will get to this point. It may get a little rough for a while as this sorts out. Of course, that may just be the optimist in me.

And prices for a single pack won't get to that point, either. The government has too much to lose in tobacco tax revenue to price the product out of common use. It will get high, but not high enough to lock the masses completely out.

Ivisi

 

[OutWest]

Reading it looks like there is enough difference between both houses that the House will end up voting on final passage tomorrow. That is expected to pass with no problem.

Yep, that's what they just said on the news here. That it will go back to the house for a vote. So, we get one more chance to burn up the phone lines, but it will probably fall on deaf ears. Might as well call and try, though.

Complete list of phone numbers, sorted by rep. name (can use browser's 'search on this page' function to quickly jump through your state's reps) http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/mcapdir.html All numbers are 202 area code.

 

[J W in Texas]

So is everyone stocking up on atty's, batts and Juice? How much Juice do you all normally have in storage?

Milo

I've been seeing this coming for a long time and most of the rest of us should have also. I now have 39 devices with assorted hardware and the juice I just ordered will take until after it's suggested 2 year shelf life to get to in my rotation. Yesterday I placed several more orders from domestic suppliers with the product in stock and already got shipping info. on some of it. Another $544 gone, but to a good cause. My loved ones and myself will not be doing without due to bad bureaucratic decisions.

Besides, it's all going to get used anyway so I might as well buy at today's prices instead of relying on what 'may' become of this market shortly. What some label as paranoia, others call preparedness.

 

[jim420]

Not if the nicotine comes from a source other than tobacco.

What other source is there? I know lettuce and tomato have miniscular amounts, but is there any other usable product that has enough nic to be usable?

 

[J W in Texas]

I believe I've seen that the nightshade group of plants is a source, but at what quantity and how viable it is I don't know.

 

[Roadmaster]

Still hard to believe a bloated health department can regulate cigarettes. Seems a contradiction. If they followed thier logic with nicotine and vaporizers, seems they would be forced to stop anyone from smoking. Doesn't do thier tarnished reputation any good to "regulate" tobacco products. They obviously will have to decide how to go about this, so it might take a little time.

Getting ready to add to my stockpile just in case. Might be a longer dry spell than I have planned for!

 

[SteelVapor]

Why does the government and insurance companies not realize that e-cigs will lower national medical bills and extend our lives there fore allowing us to pay more months of insurance premiums due to extended lives?

Has anyone looked into the insurance companies lobbying for e-cigs?

 

[OutWest]

for those that prefer to fax the house of reps, complete list of fax numbers at
http://www.acec.org/publications/house_fax_list.pdf