That being said, I believe that if HC did not take the decisions it did, ecigs and eliquids would most likely have been completely banned altogether by now. I, in contrary to what I feel most people do towards HC, am grateful that our hardware was left accessible while nic liquid is hard to access. I am not foolish as to think the party as not enough leverage to outlaw these completely, and believe they did so for our interest.
First thank you for your thoughtful post. It is well written.
This has been discussed before. Unfortunately - HC and the FDA are not acting in your interests and the result has been something very difficult to work with.
Absolutely nothing stopped HC from regulating this industry from the beginning. Had they taken that step - we would see a handful of approved eliquid manufacturers making products for wholesale and a world of hurt and lost energy and issues and problems and potential problems would not have existed. Of course there are always regulatory issues but those could have been dealt with - and the industry would likely have looked similar to what it is now - just much more prevalent and organized.
It is the duty of HC to do this. They refuse to. There may be many reasons for this - we can all speculate - but chances are only a handful of HC heads are privy to this information (I have my own theories - and I don't wear a tin-foil hat).
Here are some of the issues:
1) Eliquid makers cannot get permission or approval right now because HC refuses to classify eliquid as eliquid. Instead they have classified it as a new, untested drug. With this classification - it is impossible for any eliquid to ever receive approval. (It would take chapters and pages and lawyers to explain why).
2) This all -
in spite of legislation that HC sponsored saying otherwise. (That non-natural nicotine is no longer a schedule F drug). When sponsoring that legislation - HC claimed that it was for everyone's greater good. Apparently "everyone" has since been limited to a single pharmaceutical company's bottom line. It no longer includes you or me. Whether that pharma company is interested in making eliquid - remains to be seen - but it's unlikely - as they are the makers of a rival product (which Health Canada advertises on their page about ecigs).
3) Your hardware is not safe. HC intends to ban any hardware that is made for, advertised for or even could be used with nicotine. This is done by twisting the law. The law places electronics in the hands of provincial authorities. HC is claiming that ecigs are medical equipment.
As it stands right now - HC is only willing to permit ecigs that are sold as novelties - as things you use while using NRT's (nicotine replacement therapies) to quit smoking - or that you carry around as a toy.
The FDA tried this very same thing in the US. It was taken before the courts and the FDA had their backsides handed to them by the original case judge and the subsequent appellate judges.
The issues go deep. Deep into politics.
They have nothing to do with looking out for our health or welfare or product purity or protection from harm.
Health authorities around the world are charged with looking out for people's health. It is their duty and their jobs to ensure that products meet specifications, to set guidelines and to ensure that businesses are working within them. Instead we have a health authority refusing to do it's job in order to ensure that whole industries are shut out because they threaten a ruling monopoly.
Ecigs are not the only head on this chopping block either. Vitamins were right up there also a couple years ago and still remain in the threatened zone. Energy drinks (which suffer the same classification as ecigs) are about to go under the microscope as well.
Just as we were heading in the right direction.
