New York Gov. Kathy Hochul&#8217;s Department of Health commissioned a survey distributed to state and county leaders exploring a ban on all tobacco products, despite lawmakers&#8217; declining support to prohibit menthol cigarettes and other flavored products.
According to an April 13 memo from Jennifer Lee, director of the Health Department&#8217;s Bureau of Tobacco Control, obtained by <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/22/kathy-hochul-test-marketing-ban-on-all-ny-tobacco-sales/">The New York Post</a>, researchers from RTI International organization disseminated the survey to &#8220;community leaders&#8221; statewide, including &#8220;county legislators and county directors of public health.&#8221;
&#8220;What is your opinion about a policy that would end the sale of all tobacco products in New York within 10 years?&#8221; was among the questions asked last week in the &#8220;New York Local Opinion Leaders Survey,&#8221; examined by the Post.
Other questions asked officials about limiting the number of retailers who can sell &#8220;products in a community,&#8221; prohibiting its sales near schools, and banning the sale of all tobacco products to those born after a specific date.
&#8220;For example, those born after the year 2010 or later would never be sold tobacco,&#8221; the survey read.
According to the outlet, the move from Hochul&#8217;s administration signals the governor&#8217;s intention to remove tobacco sales in New York. One insider told The Post they &#8220;have never seen anything like this where [the state] uses this kind of focus grouping, alliance building, momentum building.&#8221;
&#8220;An outright ban being considered … is all new territory,&#8221; the insider said.
Health Department spokesman Cort Ruddy told The Post the questions asked in the survey &#8220;do not indicate whether the department supports or opposes the policies they highlight,&#8221; adding that the department has been conducting similar surveys on &#8220;tobacco, youth vaping, and other important topics for more than a decade.&#8221;
Soliciting the opinion of local leaders &#8220;is crucial for effective public health,&#8221; Ruddy said.
New York State lawmakers rejected Hochul&#8217;s proposal to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products last month after she first announced it in February as part of the Governor&#8217;s 2023-2024 fiscal year budget, which the Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/02/nys-gov-kathy-hochul-proposes-ban-on-flavored-tobacco-and-hookah-bars/">reported</a> would cost the state $133 million in lost tax revenues in the fiscal year that began on April 1 – and $255 million more in 2025.
According to the state&#8217;s Health Department, the tobacco industry spends $9.1 billion annually on marketing and promoting its products in the U.S. That&#8217;s about $1 million per hour.
State officials estimated $177.3 million is spent in the Empire State each year, accusing industry leaders of specifically targeting black communities with menthol tobacco products.
&#8220;In New York State, menthol cigarettes are used by over half of all adult smokers (52%), while 86% of black and 72% of Hispanic smokers exclusively smoke menthol cigarettes,&#8221; the department <a href="https://www.health.ny.gov/press/releases/2023/2023-02-09_flavored_tobacco_products.htm">said</a> in a February news release.
New York lawmakers have passed policies centralizing more control over tobacco products in the past few years. In 2019, state officials raised the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco to 21. The following year, lawmakers ended the sale of all tobacco products in pharmacies, restricted the sale of flavored e-liquids and online sales of all vaping products, using coupons and other discounts that lower the cost of tobacco products, and implemented a tax on vapor products.
However, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in New York and the rest of the nation.
&#8220;Approximately 1.7 million New Yorkers continue to smoke cigarettes,&#8221; the health department said. &#8220;Every year in New York, smoking kills 28,000 adults and a projected 280,000 children now under the age of 18 and alive in New York State will die prematurely from smoking.&#8221;
Still, convenience store owners argue implementing a ban would not stop people from smoking tobacco and likely put many stores out of business, citing smokers would purchase products online, in the black market, or across state lines to get their preferred pack of smokes.
&#8220;I think it would be bizarre for the state to create another category of illegal product that could lead to more conflict between law enforcement and the community,&#8221; Kent Sopris, president of the New York Association of Convenience Store Owners, told The Post.
Sopris further slammed Hochul after the governor launched a public awareness campaign last week that encouraged New Yorkers to buy marijuana products sold legally at cannabis dispensaries after lawmakers legalized it in 2021.
&#8220;If you are out there advocating for the expanded sale of retail cannabis that sells candied flavored options, how can you tell regulated legal convenience stores they can&#8217;t sell menthol cigarettes to adults?&#8221; Sopris said.
Earlier this year, Sopris suggested to <a href="https://www.rochesterfirst.com/new-york-state/ny-legislature-rejects-flavor-tobacco-ban-keeps-1-tax-increase-on-cigarettes/#:~:text=(WROC)%20%E2%80%94%20The%20New%20York,2023%2D2024%20fiscal%20year%20budget.">local media</a> that lawmakers should use a tax system to lower the smoking rate instead of increasing taxes or banning categories.

Rear View Of Man Holding Cigarette Against Brooklyn Bridge

New York Health Dept. Explores Banning All Tobacco Products Despite Lawmakers Declining Other Related Prohibitions: Report

Kathy Hochul

New York

New York Department of Health

Tobacco

U.S.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reportedly approved a halt on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fda">FDA</a>) order banning sales of Juul Labs&#8217; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/drugs">e-cigarette</a> products.
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said that the marketing denial order <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-fda-officially-orders-all-juul-electronic-cigarettes-removed-from-the-u-s-market">announced</a> on Thursday represents the agency&#8217;s &#8220;commitment to ensuring that all e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery system products currently being marketed to consumers meet our public health standards.&#8221; In response, Juul Labs asked the appeals to nix the &#8220;extraordinary and unlawful&#8221; order.
The company said in its filing that the FDA “cannot credibly argue that there is a critical and urgent public interest” in removing its products from the market right now “rather than after this Court reviews FDA’s action,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/06/24/juul-fda-e-cigarettes-ban-court-appeal">Axios</a>.
Juul — which markets itself as an alternative to cigarettes for adult smokers — sells nicotine capsules smoked through a small device. Sales surged nearly 800% between 2017 and 2018, causing Juul to gain a 68% market share in the e-cigarette category. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-to-order-juul-e-cigarettes-off-u-s-market-11655904689?mod=e2tw">The Wall Street Journal</a> first broke news on the FDA&#8217;s ban of the product earlier this week.
“The marketing denial order would follow a nearly two-year review of data presented by the vaping company, which sought authorization for its tobacco- and menthol-flavored products to stay on the U.S. market,” the outlet explained.
Indeed, over the past four years, the FDA has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fda-threatens-ban-vaping-products-due-teenage-use-kassy-dillon">seeking ways to regulate</a> e-cigarettes — especially for younger consumers.
“We see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion, and we must adjust certain aspects of our comprehensive strategy to stem this clear and present danger,” former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in 2018. “While we remain committed to advancing policies that promote the potential of e-cigarettes to help adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes, that work can’t come at the expense of kids. We cannot allow a whole new generation to become addicted to nicotine.”
At the same time, state governments began hitting Juul with lawsuits over its marketing practices, claiming that the company was intentionally encouraging young people to buy its devices.
The state of North Carolina <a href="https://ncdoj.gov/attorney-general-stein-reaches-agreement-with-juul-for-40-million-and-drastic-business-changes/">sued</a> the company in 2019 for “designing, marketing, and selling its e-cigarettes to attract young people and for misrepresenting the potency and danger of nicotine in its products.” One year later, a <a href="https://www.mass.gov/doc/juul-complaint/download">complaint</a> from the commonwealth of Massachusetts argued that the company “engaged in unfair and deceptive acts and practices” by “selling nicotine products to children, adolescents, and other consumers younger than the minimum legal sales age.”
After reviewing Juul&#8217;s permanent tobacco product application, the FDA decided that the documents “lacked sufficient evidence regarding the toxicological profile of the products to demonstrate that marketing of the products would be appropriate for the protection of the public health.” Accordingly, Juul devices and four types of pods will receive the FDA’s “highest enforcement priorities.”
&#8220;In addition to ensuring that JUUL complies with this order, as with unauthorized products generally, the FDA intends to ensure compliance by distributors and retailers,&#8221; a <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-denies-authorization-market-juul-products">statement</a> from the agency said. &#8220;Specifically, the FDA notes that all new tobacco products on the market without the statutorily required premarket authorization are marketed unlawfully and are subject to enforcement action.&#8221;
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Tim Meads contributed to this report.
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This report has been updated to include additional information.
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U.S. Congress Votes to Raise Smoking Age To 21

Federal Court Places Hold On Juul Ban

Juul Ban Placed On Hold By Federal Court

Court

juul

Washington D.C.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fda">FDA</a>) is poised to ban Juul Labs’ <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/drugs">e-cigarettes</a> from the market, according to a Wednesday report from <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-to-order-juul-e-cigarettes-off-u-s-market-11655904689?mod=e2tw">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
“The marketing denial order would follow a nearly two-year review of data presented by the vaping company, which sought authorization for its tobacco- and menthol-flavored products to stay on the U.S. market,” the outlet reported, noting that the agency’s decision could come as soon as Wednesday.
Juul — which markets itself as an <a href="https://www.juul.com/">alternative</a> to cigarettes for adult smokers — sells nicotine capsules smoked through a small device. Sales <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/02/juul-e-cigarette-sales-have-surged-over-the-past-year.html">surged nearly 800%</a> between 2017 and 2018, causing Juul to gain a 68% market share in the e-cigarette category.
The FDA’s move to ban Juul products comes months after President Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services planned to implement a $30 million grant program which allegedly would have involved <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jen-psaki-says-crack-pipe-plans-are-false-smoking-kits-contain-alcohol-swabs-lip-balm-other-materials">handing out crack pipes</a> to drug addicts as part of safe smoking kits, according to a report from Washington Free Beacon reporter Patrick Hauf.
The Biden administration denied the plans ever involved crack pipes and fact checkers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mostly-false-free-crack-pipes-how-fact-checkers-debunked-reality-again">critiqued</a> the report.
Later, Hauf <a href="https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/yes-safe-smoking-kits-include-free-crack-pipes-we-know-because-we-got-them/">obtained</a> safe smoking kits from five different cities across the United States which contained crack pipes. He reported that the kits were likely similar to the ones that would be eligible to be covered under the HHS grant. It was not known if these kits were purchased with money from the HHS grant.
Over the past four years, the FDA has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fda-threatens-ban-vaping-products-due-teenage-use-kassy-dillon">seeking ways to regulate</a> e-cigarettes — especially for young consumers.
“[We] see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion, and we must adjust certain aspects of our comprehensive strategy to stem this clear and present danger,” then FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-new-steps-address-epidemic-youth-e-cigarette-use-including-historic-action-against-more">said</a> in 2018. “While we remain committed to advancing policies that promote the potential of e-cigarettes to help adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes, that work can’t come at the expense of kids. We cannot allow a whole new generation to become addicted to nicotine.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Juul “limited its marketing” and “stopped selling sweet and fruity flavors” in 2019, after which the company’s sales slowed.
Today, Juul denies selling to young users. “Juul Labs exists for one clear purpose: to provide adult smokers worldwide an alternative to combustible cigarettes,” according to a statement from Juul Labs CEO K.C. Crosthwaithe featured prominently on the firm’s <a href="https://www.juullabs.com/">website</a>. “We do not want any non-nicotine users, especially those underage, to try our products, as they exist only to transition adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes.”
Nevertheless, Juul has faced a deluge of lawsuits from state governments. The state of North Carolina filed suit against the company in 2019 for “designing, marketing, and selling its e-cigarettes to attract young people and for misrepresenting the potency and danger of nicotine in its products,” according to a June 28 <a href="https://ncdoj.gov/attorney-general-stein-reaches-agreement-with-juul-for-40-million-and-drastic-business-changes/">statement</a> from the office of Attorney General Josh Stein. Juul agreed to pay $40 million to the state and reform its practices to ensure that no one under 21 purchases the product.
“This win will go a long way in keeping Juul products out of kids’ hands, keeping its chemical vapor out of their lungs, and keeping its nicotine from poisoning and addicting their brains,” Stein said. “We’re not done — we still have to turn the tide on a teen vaping epidemic that was borne of Juul’s greed.”
A <a href="https://www.mass.gov/doc/juul-complaint/download">complaint</a> filed by the commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2020 argued that the company “engaged in unfair and deceptive acts and practices” by “selling nicotine products to children, adolescents, and other consumers younger than the minimum legal sales age.”
Meanwhile, the state of California <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/californias-ban-on-flavored-tobacco-sales-suspended-as-big-tobacco-funds-drive-to-repeal-law">enacted</a> a law that imposed penalties on retailers who sold flavored tobacco products — including flavored vape juice and menthol cigarettes — with $250 fines per violation. Products such as hookah, pipe tobacco, and some cigars were exempt. California voters will decide on whether to keep the law in a referendum this November, while tobacco companies such as Philip Morris USA are behind efforts to oppose the law.

President Joe Biden

Months After Crack Pipe Controversy, Biden’s FDA To Ban Popular E-Cigarette Products: Report

Biden's FDA To Ban Juul Pods: Report

Biden Administration

Crack

Drugs

President Biden’s administration will impose restrictions on the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and tobacco products.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a division within the Office of Management and Budget, issued a <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202204&amp;RIN=0910-AI76">statement</a> on Tuesday regarding the proposal.
“This proposed rule is a tobacco product standard that would establish a maximum nicotine level in cigarettes and certain finished tobacco products,” the statement read.
“Because tobacco-related harms primarily result from addiction to products that repeatedly expose users to toxins, FDA would take this action to reduce addictiveness to certain tobacco products, thus giving addicted users a greater ability to quit,” the statement continues. “This product standard would also help to prevent experimenters (mainly youth) from initiating regular use, and, therefore, from becoming regular smokers.”
The Food and Drug Administration intends to implement the new rule by May 2023, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/21/nicotine-cigarettes-biden-administration-cut/">The Washington Post</a>, which added, “It could take at least a year for the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates cigarettes, to issue a proposed rule, experts say. After that, the FDA would have to sift through comments from the public before issuing a final rule.”
“Nicotine is an addictive chemical found in cigarettes and other tobacco products,” <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-to-pursue-rule-requiring-lower-nicotine-levels-in-u-s-cigarettes-11654901902">The Wall Street Journal</a> noted. “While nicotine hooks people on cigarettes, nicotine itself doesn’t cause cancer, heart disease or lung disease, according to the FDA.”
“The cigarette <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pandemic-cigarette-smoking-boom-appears-to-be-over-11635515952?mod=article_inline" data-type="link">smoking rate has been declining</a> in the U.S. for decades, though it ticked up slightly in 2020 when the pandemic hit,” the Journal pointed out.
Guy Bentley, director of consumer freedom at the Reason Foundation, slammed the nicotine reduction plan, saying, “In practical terms, the proposal would ban most cigarettes currently sold in America. Combined with the Biden administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, this would amount to an effort similar to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s” — and would ultimately fail, he said, per the Washington Post.
The tobacco company Altria echoed, “We believe tobacco harm reduction is a better path forward. The focus should be less on taking products away from adult smokers and more on providing them a robust marketplace of reduced harm FDA-authorized smoke-free products. Today marks the start of a long-term process, which must be science-based and account for potentially serious unintended consequences.”
“Using any tobacco product can lead to nicotine addiction,” the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/health-effects-tobacco-use/nicotine-why-tobacco-products-are-addictive">Food and Drug Administration</a> explains. “This is because nicotine can change the way the brain works, causing cravings for more of it. Some tobacco products, like cigarettes, are designed to deliver nicotine to the brain within seconds, making it easier to become dependent on nicotine and more difficult to quit. While nicotine naturally occurs in the tobacco plant itself, some tobacco products contain additives that may make it easier for your body to absorb more nicotine.”
&nbsp;

Cigarette manufacturing

Biden Targets Tobacco: Will Require Lower Nicotine Levels In Cigarettes

Cigarettes

Joe Biden

Democrat President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration is going to war with the nearly $100 billion U.S. cigarette industry by trying to implement a new FDA rule that would effectively ban nearly all nicotine in cigarettes.
The move reportedly comes as Biden tries to put energy into his cancer moonshot initiative — where he promised to reduce cancer rates in the U.S. by half over the next quarter century — amid his presidency that has been chalked full of crises that many have blamed him for, including <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/majority-democrats-blame-joe-biden-record-inflation-poll-1717669">skyrocketing inflation</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/31/gas-prices-biden-approval-clean-energy/">record high gas prices</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republicans-target-biden-blame-over-putins-ukraine-invasion-2022-02-24/">war breaking out in Europe</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/16/politics/afghanistan-joe-biden-donald-trump-kabul-politics/index.html">disastrous foreign policy decisions</a>, a catastrophic <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017f-d8bd-d522-ab7f-debd59400000">border crisis</a>, and a pandemic that Biden has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/its-official-more-americans-have-died-from-coronavirus-under-biden-than-trump-despite-biden-pledge-to-shut-down-the-virus">failed</a> to stop.
&#8220;FDA officials said reducing nicotine in cigarettes to very low levels would prevent future generations from becoming addicted to cigarettes, and help current smokers to quit or switch to less-harmful alternatives,&#8221; The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-targets-removal-of-most-nicotine-from-cigarettes-11655842130?mod=e2tw">reported</a>. &#8220;According to an FDA study published in 2018, such a rule would prompt an additional 13 million adult smokers to quit within five years of implementation.&#8221;
Tobacco companies have noted that the move could potentially eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/21/nicotine-cigarettes-biden-administration-cut/">noted</a> that opponents are likely to argue to &#8220;science does not support such a move&#8221; and that &#8220;slashing nicotine would boost demand for products on the black market.&#8221;
Biden&#8217;s plan likely would not take effect for years and could easily be reversed under a future administration or could lose to heavy lobbying by the Tobacco industry, which is expected to fight back hard.
&#8220;The policy would apply to all cigarettes sold in the U.S.,&#8221; the Journal added. &#8220;Imports of traditional cigarettes would be barred but multinational tobacco companies could continue to sell full-nicotine cigarettes in other countries.&#8221;
Guy Bentley, director of consumer freedom at the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, said that Biden&#8217;s plan would ultimately fail.
“In practical terms, the proposal would ban most cigarettes currently sold in America,” Bentley said. “Combined with the Biden administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, this would amount to an effort similar to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s” — leading it to fail, he said, according to the Post.

President Biden Speaks On COVID-19 Vaccines For Children Under 5

Biden To Push Plan To Eliminate ‘Nearly All Nicotine In Cigarettes,’ Would Decimate Tobacco Industry

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)

Health

Philip Morris International — the manufacturer of Marlboro cigarettes for the United Kingdom — is attempting to purchase Vectura, a pharmaceutical company that produces asthma inhalers.
In order to parry another buyout offer from American private equity firm Carlyle, Philip Morris International increased its <a href="https://pmidotcom3-restricted-prd.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Project+Vela+-+Firm+Offer+announcement+-+revised+offer+(8+August+-+FINAL).pdf">bid</a> to $2.29 per share, giving Vectura a $1.4 billion valuation.
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/09/business/philip-morris-vectura/index.html">CNN Business</a> explains that the move is Philip Morris International’s latest in response to heightened global regulations:
<blockquote>Tobacco companies are under pressure to diversify amid dwindling smoker numbers, a push from governments to reduce the prevalence and dangers of smoking, and moves by investors to strip tobacco products from their portfolios.
Philip Morris International has invested $8 billion and hired dozens of scientists and technicians to develop alternatives to cigarettes, including its flagship IQOS product, which heats rather than burns tobacco. The company also recently bought Fertin Pharma, which manufactures oral drSnougs to treat pain, allergies and various other ailments.</blockquote>
CNN Business notes that health activists are concerned about the deal. As Cancer Research UK chief executive Michelle Mitchell said, &#8220;it&#8217;s ironic that a tobacco company wants to invest in the lung health industry when their products are the biggest preventable cause of cancer, including lung cancer.”
Philip Morris International — a distinct spinoff from Philip Morris USA, which sells cigarettes in the United States — is therefore seeking to rebrand.
“We can stand still and continue selling cigarettes or we can do something with the science and the technology at least to significantly reduce the harm created by smoking,” CEO Jacek Olczak told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/21/philip-morris-ceo-defends-the-companys-intentions-to-buy-inhaler-maker-vectura.html">CNBC</a> last month. “I believe what we’re doing is absolutely right&#8230; Nothing and nobody will stop us in our transformations to leave smoking behind.”
In the United States, the Biden administration is seeking to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-expected-to-propose-ban-on-menthol-cigarettes-aclu-says-it-will-disproportionately-affect-communities-of-color">tighten</a> regulations on menthol cigarettes — a move that the ACLU believes will “disproportionately impact people and communities of color, trigger criminal penalties, and lead to negative interactions with law enforcement.”
“Banning menthol — the last allowable flavor — in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products,” explained Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock in a <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-commits-evidence-based-actions-aimed-saving-lives-and-preventing-future-generations-smokers">statement</a>. “With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products.”

SWITZERLAND-HEALTH-SMOKING-TOBACCO-TECHNOLOGY-INDUSTRY-TREATY

Cigarette Manufacturer Is Attempting To Buy Asthma Inhaler Company

Health Care

In a settlement agreement, e-cigarette company JUUL Labs agreed to pay $40 million to the state of North Carolina.
Attorney General Josh Stein (D-NC) filed suit against the company in 2019 for “designing, marketing, and selling its e-cigarettes to attract young people and for misrepresenting the potency and danger of nicotine in its products,” according to a June 28 <a href="https://ncdoj.gov/attorney-general-stein-reaches-agreement-with-juul-for-40-million-and-drastic-business-changes/">statement</a> from his office.
“This win will go a long way in keeping JUUL products out of kids’ hands, keeping its chemical vapor out of their lungs, and keeping its nicotine from poisoning and addicting their brains,” explained Stein. “I’m incredibly proud of my team for their hard work on behalf of North Carolina families. We’re not done — we still have to turn the tide on a teen vaping epidemic that was borne of JUUL’s greed.”
In addition to paying $40 million over the next six years, JUUL Labs agreed to reform its business practices in North Carolina:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No marketing that appeals to people under the age of 21.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No using most social media advertising, influencer advertising, outdoor advertising near schools, and sponsoring sporting events and concerts.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No claims that compare the health effects of using JUUL with the health effects of using combustible cigarettes in its marketing materials.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No online sales to anyone not age verified by an independent verification system and making sure third-party sales partners do the same.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No retail sales to anyone not age verified using a barcode scanner.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ensure its products are sold behind counters so shoppers cannot access them without a shop employee’s assistance.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Maintain a retailer compliance secret shopper program in North Carolina to ensure these measures are followed and hold accountable retailers that fail.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No new flavors or nicotine content levels without FDA authorization.</li>
</ul>
Policymakers across the United States are attempting to restrict the sale of flavored nicotine products.
For instance, California sought to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/californias-ban-on-flavored-tobacco-sales-suspended-as-big-tobacco-funds-drive-to-repeal-law">regulate</a> the sale of flavored tobacco by instituting fines of $250 per sale of flavored vape juice or menthol cigarettes. The law was suspended after a massive lobbying effort from California Coalition for Fairness, which is funded by large tobacco companies.
In April, the Biden administration likewise <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/04/29/press-gaggle-by-principal-deputy-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-aboard-air-force-one-en-route-plains-ga/">announced</a> its intention to regulate menthol cigarette sales. White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the move was “a public health decision that will help curb addiction and save lives.”

JUUL Labs Will Shell Out $40 Million For Ads Targeting Minors

Big Tobacco is spending big bucks fighting back against lawmakers in the Golden State.
The Los Angeles Times reports, “a California law banning the sale of flavored tobacco products was placed on hold Friday after state officials said a referendum by the tobacco industry qualified for the November 2022 ballot.” According to the Times, “the announcement means the law approved last year by the Legislature and signed by the governor is suspended until California voters decide late next year whether to affirm or repeal the ban.”
California Coalition for Fairness, the group behind the campaign to repeal the law, is <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-22/california-flavored-tobacco-ban-blocked-2022-ballot-referendum-qualifies">reportedly</a> “funded largely by tobacco giants including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Philip Morris USA and its affiliated U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co.”  Collectively, they have already contributed more than $21 million to the cause.
In a statement on Friday, the Coalition <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-22/california-flavored-tobacco-ban-blocked-2022-ballot-referendum-qualifies">said</a> it would “focus on educating voters about why this law is unfair and goes too far.”
The law <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article245340950.html">imposed</a> penalties on retailers who sold flavored tobacco products, including flavored vape juice and menthol cigarettes, fining them $250 per violation. Some products were exempt, such as hookah, pipe tobacco, and some cigars.
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Tobacco interests have already poured $21 million + into this effort. Undoubtedly there&#39;s plenty more where that came from
&mdash; Jeremy B. White (@JeremyBWhite) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeremyBWhite/status/1352732987603918848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2021</a></blockquote>
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In November, the coalition said it submitted more than 1 million signatures of registered voters in support of placing a referendum on the ballot asking voters whether the law should be overturned. State officials said if enough signatures were validated, the law would be suspended until the electorate could decide the issue. The law was set to take effect on January 1 but was not enforced because the signature certification process had not been completed. On Friday, the Secretary of State’s office announced the proposal had qualified for ballot placement.
“In order to qualify for the ballot, the referendum needed 623,212 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2018 General Election,” officials <a href="https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2021-news-releases-and-advisories/js21002">said</a> in a news release.
Former state Sen. Jerry Hill, who authored the bill before leaving office, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-law-banning-flavored-tobacco-on-hold-15891757.php">said</a>, “This truly is sad for California.”
“They will lose at the ballot in 2022, but in the meantime they’ll make billions in profit off of our youth and communities of color while they’re addicting and killing them,” he continued.
<a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article245340950.html">According</a> to the Sacramento Bee, the bill passed the Assembly with a vote of 50-0, with 30 members abstaining. It received bipartisan support in the Senate, approved 34-0. Six senators abstained. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom had signed the legislation into law in August. The tobacco industry tried to stop the bill, sparking <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-24/california-flavored-tobacco-ban-industry-ads-senate-bill-793">criticism</a> after launching an ad campaign that claimed its passage would unfairly discriminate against black and Latino smokers of menthol cigarettes. Lawmakers said they were concerned about sweet flavors targeting children.
“We agree that youth should never have access to any tobacco products, but this can be achieved without imposing a total prohibition on products that millions of adults choose to use,” a statement from the tobacco-funded coalition <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-law-banning-flavored-tobacco-on-hold-15891757.php">said</a>.

Government Study Shows Flavored Cigars Popular Among Teens

California’s Ban On Flavored Tobacco Sales Suspended As Big Tobacco Funds Drive To Repeal Law

California

The $1.4 trillion budget currently being rammed through Congress should attract our attention because it&#8217;s yet another massive behemoth monstrosity of a spending bill and it yet again signals that fiscal conservatism, if it ever existed at all, has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-fiscal-conservatism-dead-republicans-killed-josh-hammer">dead</a> for many decades. The budget will add $500 billion to our deficits, meaning the government will spend vastly more than the nearly $4 trillion it collects in tax revenue annually. Our leaders in Washington already appropriate the equivalent of the entire net worth of half of the world&#8217;s billionaires every year, but it&#8217;s not enough, we&#8217;re told. Not even close to enough. Thus, deficits and crippling national debt.
If this wasn&#8217;t bad enough — and made all the worse by the fact that Republican voters appear entirely apathetic about this issue, despite all of the Tea Party theatrics a few years ago — consider what else they&#8217;ve jammed into this bill. Despite being at best only vaguely related to spending and budgets, a group of Democrats and Republicans have crafted a plan to raise the age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21, and they&#8217;ve attached it like a barnacle onto this budgetary Titanic. Once the bill is made law, it will be illegal across the country to sell tobacco or vaping products to anyone under the age of 21.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The Myth Of Fiscal Conservatism | The Matt Walsh Show Ep. 393" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OhInq3rr0Zs?start=387&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It doesn&#8217;t take much reflection to notice the absurdity of this situation. The law will say that people at the age of 18 lack the emotional maturity or mental competence to decide for themselves whether they want to smoke a cigarette or use a vape pen. Now remember all of the things that the laws says 18-year-olds are mature and competent enough to do. Here&#8217;s a partial list:
– Vote
– Buy a shotgun
– Get a tattoo
– Sign a mortgage
– Take on crippling student loans
– Sign a contract
– Get married
– Get an abortion
– Serve on a jury
– Serve on the battlefield
– Drive
– Be tried as an adult in federal court
– Be executed by the government
There is no theory of human psychology and development that makes any sense of this dichotomy. It seems thoroughly obvious that anyone who can be trusted to wage war on a battlefield, or decide someone&#8217;s fate on a jury, or pilot a 4,000-pound hunk of metal down the highway at 75 miles per hour, or make financial commitments that will affect the course of their lives for decades to come, can certainly be trusted with a vape pen. Another way of putting it: Anyone who cannot be trusted with a vape pen cannot be trusted with any of that stuff. I don&#8217;t know about you, but I certainly don&#8217;t want someone so incompetent deciding my guilt or innocence in a court of law.
If we are grasping for anything resembling consistency, it seems we have a few courses available, and none of them include empowering people to do almost every important and potentially dangerous thing while still depriving them the right to smoke a cigar. The non-arbitrary options would be:
(1) Move the age for almost everything cited above, along with tobacco use, to 21 or older. This would be consistent and coherent. It would also be wrong, in my opinion. We do not instill maturity in young adults by legally infantilizing them. Moving the age of legal adulthood to 21 or older forces people to remain in suspended adolescence, which would seem to accomplish the exact opposite of what we should be trying to accomplish in our culture.
(2) Keep the age of legal adulthood at 18 and include tobacco use and, for that matter, alcohol use in that bundle. This is the approach I favor.
(3) Ban tobacco outright on the basis that it&#8217;s poisonous and dangerous and nobody should be using it. Most of the arguments I&#8217;ve read in favor of increasing the tobacco age have really been arguments for this third option. As dozens of people have no doubt already observed in the comments section, I am not averse to the idea of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-a-group-of-republicans-want-the-government-to-start-fighting-hardcore-pornography-theyre-right-heres-why">banning</a> harmful things, so I&#8217;m not going to claim that the argument for banning tobacco is incoherent or inherently absurd. But I still don&#8217;t agree with it.
Tobacco is not intrinsically evil or significantly damaging in small doses. Both tobacco and alcohol, in moderation, are nearly harmless. The harm of an occasional cigar at least does not outweigh the harm of an occasional Big Mac. Neither does the harm of immoderate tobacco use outweigh the harm of immoderate fast food consumption. Many more people die from obesity-related causes than from smoking, after all.
That said, at least a call to ban tobacco is defensible. There is nothing necessarily inconsistent with claiming that 18-year-olds are old enough to vote, drive, and get tattoos, but not old enough to smoke because nobody should be able to smoke. There is something inconsistent and incoherent about arguing that tobacco is terrible so  you should have to wait until three years after you become a legal adult to use it.

hand destroying cigarettes – stop smoking concept

WALSH: Congress Decides 18-Year-Olds Are Too Young To Buy Tobacco. Here’s A Bunch Of Things They Still Aren’t Too Young To Do.

Congress

Federal investigators late last year attempted to illegally purchase firearms online after congressional members asked them to assess how well the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was doing with the enforcement of existing laws.
The findings were stunning.
Investigators with the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) were dispatched to see whether private online sellers were engaging in selling firearms to people who are prohibited from owning firearms. The investigators attempted dozens of times to illegally purchase firearms from online sellers on the &#8220;surface web&#8221; (i.e. not the dark web), but were completely unsuccessful — going 0 for 72.
Key takeaways from the GAO&#8217;s <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/688535.pdf">report</a>:
<ul>
<li>The GAO attempted 72 times to illegally purchase a firearm on gun forums and other classified ads.</li>
<li>They were unable to obtain any firearms.</li>
<li>29 sellers stated they would not ship the firearm.</li>
<li>27 refused after they learned that the attempted buyer was prohibited from buying.</li>
<li>In 5 instances, the accounts the GAO set up were frozen by the websites, which prohibited them from even accessing the forums.</li>
</ul>
Investigators also attempted to purchase firearms on the &#8220;dark web,&#8221; which is not used by most people and cannot be accessed through standard internet browsers. In these attempts, they did not disclose any information about whether they were prohibited from purchasing firearms.
The GAO attempted seven purchases on the dark web and successfully obtained two firearms, an AR-15, and an Uzi. The GAO did not make any recommendations in their report about any actions the ATF should take.

FAIL: Investigators Tried To Illegally Buy Guns Online. Here’s How Many They Obtained.

Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

Gun Control

Gun Sales

CBS made up a bogus term to describe the ammunition that was used by the Las Vegas shooter during the rampage &#8211; calling the ammunition he used &#8220;automatic rounds.&#8221;
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) confirmed to the Daily Wire that there is no such thing as &#8220;automatic rounds,&#8221; which contradicts CBS&#8217;s claim about ATF rules.
CBS <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/915622557306548224">tweeted</a> a link to their report, saying, &#8220;While the guns Stephen Paddock used in Las Vegas fired automatic rounds, they were perfectly legal under ATF rules.&#8221;
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While the guns Stephen Paddock used in Las Vegas fired automatic rounds, they were perfectly legal under ATF rules <a href="https://t.co/K8RlG5v282">https://t.co/K8RlG5v282</a> <a href="https://t.co/pdewa9BOwU">pic.twitter.com/pdewa9BOwU</a>
&#8212; CBS News (@CBSNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/915622557306548224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Yet while the guns that Stephen Paddock used to shoot more than 500 people in Las Vegas fired automatic rounds, they were perfectly legal, according to rules established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF),&#8221; the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/las-vegas-shooting-stephen-paddock-bump-stock-made-his-guns-even-deadlier/">CBS</a> report falsely stated.
CBS later updated their report but they failed to mention their correction anywhere in the article.
2nd Amendment advocates slammed the liberal network for their bogus &#8220;automatic rounds&#8221; claim over social media:
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&#8220;automatic rounds??&#8221;
Yet again <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSNews</a> demonstrates they know nothing about the subject they write on. <a href="https://t.co/cAAFRIazti">https://t.co/cAAFRIazti</a>
&#8212; Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) <a href="https://twitter.com/SebGorka/status/915665338808832001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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TH is an &#8220;automatic round?&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/mdGDjQleOF">https://t.co/mdGDjQleOF</a>
&#8212; Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) <a href="https://twitter.com/DLoesch/status/915691443091623936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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WTF is an &#8220;automatic round&#8221;? <a href="https://t.co/vcrjoITjy8">https://t.co/vcrjoITjy8</a>
&#8212; Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) <a href="https://twitter.com/brandondarby/status/915644642753961994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&gt;&#8221;automatic rounds&#8221;
Calling for an immediate ban on checkmarks expressing opinions on guns until they figure out what the hell is going on <a href="https://t.co/NT9HNxffeM">https://t.co/NT9HNxffeM</a>
&#8212; Virginia Dare (@vdare) <a href="https://twitter.com/vdare/status/915645398479507456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>

FAKE NEWS: CBS Makes Up Bogus Term To Describe Ammo Used In Las Vegas Shooting

Fake News

Guns

Las Vegas Shooting

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