Category: Recent News

For about an hour today, I feared the worst.

Then, even when I heard about his condition, I still didn’t really know because neither myself nor his wife were able to talk to him.

So this call was quite a relief for me and I’m sure it will be for you as well.

He’s going to be just fine.

I was just informed that Dimitris Agrafiotis was involved in a motorcycle accident today.

I am in contact with his wife who let me know his condition and that he’s on his way into the OR for surgery.
She is outside the hospital, not being permitted in to see him due to COVID.

He has fractured both his arms and cut up his face.

He is awake and according to his wife, joking with the doctors and nurses which is a very good sign.

I will keep everyone updated as to his status.

In the meantime, let’s all pray for him, for his wife, and kids.

🙏

“Just before the first cases of the novel coronavirus began popping up in the U.S. around this time last year, public-health agencies’ biggest concern seemed to be e-cigarettes. In January 2020, the Food and Drug Administration announced stringent bans on many of these nicotine-vapor products, teenagers’ use of which former FDA director Scott Gottlieb called an “epidemic.” That same month, the Centers for Disease Control ended its months-long recommendation that all Americans avoid e-cigarettes, after mistakenly blaming them for causing several thousand cases of lung injury nationwide. For all this activity, though, the CDC was failing in its core public-health functions. Despite an $11 billion budget, the agency had never produced useful modeling of how a novel virus might spread and be contained. U.S. public health must return to its core function of protecting Americans from transmissible diseases—not from themselves. A downsized CDC should rebrand under its original name, the Communicable Disease Center, and stop trying to control behavioral health decisions like vaping.”

ARTICLE LINK:   A Private Fix for Public Health

“A month ago, American vapers were coming to terms with the government instructing the United States Postal Service (USPS) that it was no longer allowed to ship vape products including eliquid. The delivery company UPS has announced that it will cease carrying shipments in, across, or out of the USA. The options for those alternative arrangements are getting shorter by the week. FedEx already has a block and USP’s announcement compounds problems for vapers across the States. UPS has been contacted for comment about the likelihood of the ban being extended to the United Kingdom but has not replied”

ARTICLE LINK:   UPS To Block Vape Deliveries

“Last fall, the Chicago City Council banned the sale of flavored vaping products but exempted flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. Monday, that law triggered its first lawsuit, accusing two firms of “marketing and selling flavored vaping products” to Chicago kids. On Monday, that watered-down law triggered its first lawsuit — one that accuses Equte LLC, a marketing firm, as well as Vapes.com, of “marketing and selling flavored vaping products” to Chicago kids. The latest in a string of city lawsuits against the e-cigarette industry follows an investigation by the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. It identified the two companies as having violated the flavored tobacco ban championed by Southwest Side Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th).”

ARTICLE LINK:   Chicago files yet another lawsuit against e-cigarette industry

“A House panel is considering raising the state cigarette tax by $1 and instituting the first-ever vaping tax under a proposal heard Monday. But members believe more of the revenue from the taxes should go to health causes than the bill is written, so a vote was delayed to craft an amendment. The legislation also would add a tax to eliquids containing nicotine. Under an amendment, it would be a 39% tax assessed at the wholesale level like cigarette taxes. But the cost would ultimately be borne by customers. Under House Bill 1434, most of the money from the new taxes – about 56% – would go to the state general fund for various uses. Another 5% would go to state pension relief at about $15 million a year.”

CASAA CALL-TO-ACTION:   INDIANA – STOP A VAPOR TAX (HB 1434)

ARTICLE LINK:   Legislators consider cigarette tax increase, vaping tax

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warning letters to nine firms who manufacture and operate websites selling electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products, specifically e-liquids. The move comes as they did not submit a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) by the September 9, 2020 deadline. The firms that received warning letters are The Mad Alchemist LLC, Austin Vapor, BloVape, Bombay Vapor LLC, Chief Vapor, American Legends E-Liquid, LLLP, Average Joes Juice LLC, Cloud Chasers Apothecary LLC, and Carolina Vapor Mill, LLC. These firms were selling the products through their websites. They have collectively listed a combined total of over 100,000 products with the FDA.”

BILL TARLING — Remember back when Mitch Zeller from the FDA and said the PMTA would only affect a couple of hundred companies and products…

ARTICLE LINK:   Nine Firms Issued Warning Letters Against Selling Unauthorized E-liquids

“Just because a policy has already been documented to be a proven failure doesn’t mean politicians will cease proposing it. Maryland, Washington, Connecticut and a handful of other states are considering bills to ban flavored tobacco and vaping products, even though this same prohibition has backfired elsewhere. Early results from the flavored tobacco & vaping products prohibition enacted in Massachusetts show such bans deprive adults of less harmful alternatives to cigarettes, crush small businesses, depress tax collections as commerce shifts across state lines, and fail to curb smoking. If Maryland lawmakers and legislators elsewhere learn lessons from Massachusetts and heed the advice of non-partisan public finance experts, they’ll reject the pending prohibitions.”

ARTICLE LINK: One State’s Flavored Tobacco & Vape Ban Is A Cautionary Tale For The Nation

“The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to stop peddling lies about the risks of contracting Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) through vaping or the use of electronic cigarettes. In a 103-page white paper, CAPHRA said the vaping/COVID link is the latest dangerous lie being spread by the WHO as part of its anti-smoking agenda. The WHO has chosen to support deadly cigarette consumption over a healthier alternative and in the process has forced vaping into the waiting hands of the black market—and they do this with the full knowledge of the consequences of their actions.”

ARTICLE LINK: WHO Asked To Stop Peddling Lies About Vaping And COVID-19 Risks

“Tobacco legislation and regulation is constantly under review at the local, state and federal levels. In this monthly roundup, Convenience Store News highlights the latest proposals and approved changes happening across the United States.”

ARTICLE LINK:   January 2021 Legislative & Regulatory Roundup