North Carolina Facing Ban

[Uma]

I found this thread at ecf yesterday and it's important to act now!! As well as with the NY state! The NY ban is code RED ALERT, they will be voting on Tuesday. This thread on SC is a must read... it shares with us how the Reps pass bills without even reading them. Give NY and SC something to read. ACT NOW!!

ECF SC BAN Thread

[miatafrank]

Has the world suddenly gone to hell? How much you wanna bet the FDA is behind this? I hate to come up with a conspiracy theory, but what if their getting support from these state and local governments so that they can go to the court of appeals and say "See, the american people want this gone.".

I don't know if anyone listened to the audio transcripts of what happened in King County, Washington, but it was rediculious. They gave people like the CASAA rep a chance to talk, but cut them off quickly, while letting those arguing against ecigs speak longer. Of course they all spouted off a bunch of nonsense, and referencing the FDA/Njoy case. What a farce!!! They seemed to have already made up their minds, and just held the public hearing as a formality.

[Uma]

They don't want to lose their dollars from the analogs, so they turn a deaf ear.

We need to hit the airwaves somehow.

[juliery]

It is a multi faceted issue.....first off the states don't want to be losing all that tax revenue from the sale of cigarettes. Then you have the entire tobacco industry which is TOTALLY against e cigs because it affects their sales and they can see where this is going....imagine the day that half the smokers aren't smoking anymore....think of what that means...half of all tobacco industry sales gone? All the jobs lost, etc. The tobacco industry is HUGE and they are VERY powerful. THEN you have the pharmaceutical industry which is also VERY big and VERY powerful and both of them have lobbyists and industry giants that are owed LOTS of favors. They each want us using their products. We can stop smoking, but it better be using a lozenge, gum, patch, pill, etc. Both those industries contribute MILLIONS into local and national political campaigns. In IL last year, the senator, Terry Link, now retired, was the one who introduced the bill here to ban the sale of all e cig products. His biggest campaign contributions....from the pharma industry, which is a big industry in northern IL. You better believe THEY were the ones who were behind that. He OWED them, and when they say pay up, these reps and senators DO IT, or next time they are running they can kiss that money goodbye. So you basically have three entities all with motivation to stop this. Fortunately here the bill was reassigned to a "health committee" and when that happens the bill just basically dies in committee. Nothing has happened with it since then. It is not scheduled for anything at this time and hopefully it will just go away. HOWEVER if several states are successful with bans THAT gives a bill in another state a better chance of succeeding. However, look what happened in NJ like a year or so ago....the whole thing was overturned, of course in the meantime it is a pain in the butt getting anything. Of course you can just have a friend in another state order the stuff and then just send it to you....no law against your friend giving you a gift. Most of the bills don't have anything against possessing the products, just selling/buying them within the state or selling to a known resident of the state in which it is banned.

Anyway, I wouldn't call it really a conspiracy, that would imply there are things going on that are secret. This is happening in the open and it is very obvious what the motivation is...it is $$$$$$ like most other things. They all want their money. The only idiocy is what they publicly state as the motivation....this has NOTHING to do with safety/health. Any idiot knows that just removing the smoke aspect removes all the respiratory related illnesses right out the gate. After all, most ppl in a fire succumb to smoke inhalation first, before they are ever harmed by the fire. BUT even IF they were just as dangerous as cigarettes....what would be the problem? All the issues already stated.

But, if you want to go down a conspiracy road, I have often considered this.....we all know that most smoking cessation products don't work long term. Almost all people who quit start smoking again, using any of the cessation aids, even if it is several years later. So what if this is really about the fact that they DO know it is healthy? I mean, no one (other than ourselves) really wants us living to be 95 yrs old. That is a HUGE drain on the government in one form or another. Keeping us addicted to cigarettes is a win win....odds are we will get some kind of smoking related illness/disease that will shorten our lifespan...before retirement even better, thereby continuing to make the tobacco giants remain giants, the gov is collecting all their sin tax money, and the pharmas aren't left out.....they know we will most likely try quitting numerous times, like most of us who have been smoking for a long time have already done, so they make their money too. SO everyone wins IF we are all smoking....everyone but us that is. Just my thoughts/opinions.

[miatafrank]

I think you have it wrong about the tobacco industry, and they are more likely to be on our side. They have been just as victimized by taxation as the smokers. The real culprits are the state governments and federal agencies like the FDA. They impose high taxes on cigarettes which impacts the pockets of smokers, and leads to LESS sales of tobacco. Why would the tobacco industry be behind that.

Hurt by this taxation, the tobacco industry turned to other ways to sell their product. The extraction of nicotine for use by the pharmaceutical companies in patches and gum and such. Now the pharmaceutical companies would be another villain in all this, but to the tobacco companies they would be just another customer. There is also snus which is derived from the tobacco plant, and yes, electronic cigarettes. If the tobacco companies get on board with more smoking alternatives which are derived from the tobacco plant, they stand to make MORE money, and that puts them more on our side.

This is not just my guess. This is a point on view published in a tobacco magazine, and the article was posted a while ago right here on vaportalk by another member.

It is a multi faceted issue.....first off the states don't want to be losing all that tax revenue from the sale of cigarettes. Then you have the entire tobacco industry which is TOTALLY against e cigs because it affects their sales and they can see where this is going....imagine the day that half the smokers aren't smoking anymore....think of what that means...half of all tobacco industry sales gone? All the jobs lost, etc. The tobacco industry is HUGE and they are VERY powerful. THEN you have the pharmaceutical industry which is also VERY big and VERY powerful and both of them have lobbyists and industry giants that are owed LOTS of favors. They each want us using their products. We can stop smoking, but it better be using a lozenge, gum, patch, pill, etc. Both those industries contribute MILLIONS into local and national political campaigns. In IL last year, the senator, Terry Link, now retired, was the one who introduced the bill here to ban the sale of all e cig products. His biggest campaign contributions....from the pharma industry, which is a big industry in northern IL. You better believe THEY were the ones who were behind that. He OWED them, and when they say pay up, these reps and senators DO IT, or next time they are running they can kiss that money goodbye. So you basically have three entities all with motivation to stop this. Fortunately here the bill was reassigned to a "health committee" and when that happens the bill just basically dies in committee. Nothing has happened with it since then. It is not scheduled for anything at this time and hopefully it will just go away. HOWEVER if several states are successful with bans THAT gives a bill in another state a better chance of succeeding. However, look what happened in NJ like a year or so ago....the whole thing was overturned, of course in the meantime it is a pain in the butt getting anything. Of course you can just have a friend in another state order the stuff and then just send it to you....no law against your friend giving you a gift. Most of the bills don't have anything against possessing the products, just selling/buying them within the state or selling to a known resident of the state in which it is banned.

Anyway, I wouldn't call it really a conspiracy, that would imply there are things going on that are secret. This is happening in the open and it is very obvious what the motivation is...it is $$$$$$ like most other things. They all want their money. The only idiocy is what they publicly state as the motivation....this has NOTHING to do with safety/health. Any idiot knows that just removing the smoke aspect removes all the respiratory related illnesses right out the gate. After all, most ppl in a fire succumb to smoke inhalation first, before they are ever harmed by the fire. BUT even IF they were just as dangerous as cigarettes....what would be the problem? All the issues already stated.

But, if you want to go down a conspiracy road, I have often considered this.....we all know that most smoking cessation products don't work long term. Almost all people who quit start smoking again, using any of the cessation aids, even if it is several years later. So what if this is really about the fact that they DO know it is healthy? I mean, no one (other than ourselves) really wants us living to be 95 yrs old. That is a HUGE drain on the government in one form or another. Keeping us addicted to cigarettes is a win win....odds are we will get some kind of smoking related illness/disease that will shorten our lifespan...before retirement even better, thereby continuing to make the tobacco giants remain giants, the gov is collecting all their sin tax money, and the pharmas aren't left out.....they know we will most likely try quitting numerous times, like most of us who have been smoking for a long time have already done, so they make their money too. SO everyone wins IF we are all smoking....everyone but us that is. Just my thoughts/opinions.

[Uma]

I agree with MiaFrank.

Big Pharma has the FDA, ACA, ALA, and others eating out of their pockets.

The States and Gov have the TAX monies to worry about.

[Christopher]

Just so I understand, after taking a quick look at the bill, it looks like it's not an ultimate ban yet but rather a ban in public areas correct?

[miatafrank]

Just so I understand, after taking a quick look at the bill, it looks like it's not an ultimate ban yet but rather a ban in public areas correct?

Very much like what happened in King County, Washington, but on a state wide level.

[Uma]

ooops, I see I put SC instead of NC in a few spots. I hope it's not premonition.

The ban in public is the first step for some of these control freaks...