Category: Vaping News

“On December 9, 2020, the Tennessee Department of Revenue issued its Notice #20-21, on the subject of the State of Tennessee’s excise tax on other tobacco products or “OTP”. The Department will not apply the tobacco tax to these non-tobacco products without statutory clarification on what is considered a tobacco substitute. The Notice then goes on to clarify the Department’s analysis with respect to several specific tobacco and non-tobacco segments: With respect to “e-cigarettes and vape devices,” which the Notice defines as products that “transform a liquid into its gaseous form, allowing the user to inhale and ingest the vapor,” and where “the liquid that is vaporized does not contain tobacco,” such products are not subject to the tobacco tax because these products do not contain tobacco. The Department’s action strikes us as an example of good governance, where an agency correctly acknowledges the limitations of its enforcement authority and provides the business community with clear and actionable guidance.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Tennessee Department of Revenue Clarifies that ENDS and Tobacco Substitutes Are Not Subject to OTP Tax

“Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino extended their temporary ban on smoking for guests and employees through Dec. 31. The mandate, which includes vaping, was implemented in November to maximize the effectiveness of face masks and help optimize everyone’s health and safety, according to the casino’s safety guidelines.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Prairie Meadows extends temporary smoking ban through December

“Health warnings for smoke-free products such as e-cigarettes or vapes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) should be proportionate to their risk as compared to combustible cigarettes. This was the key message of Prof. Tikki Pangestu in his keynote speech during the 2nd Philippine Harm Reduction Online Forum on December 4, 2020. For example, health warnings could state that smoke-free products are not completely free from harm but are significantly less harmful than combustible cigarettes which contain tar and carbon monoxide. The health warnings could also indicate that smoke-free products are for adults only and should not be used by the youth, he added.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Health warnings for smoke-free products should be risk proportionate

“The City of Denver is considering a flavored tobacco ban that could end up prohibiting the sale of menthol cigarettes, flavored vaping products and flavored cigars, among other products. Denver public-health officials are discussing the idea of a comprehensive flavored tobacco restriction with city leadership, and have considered adding exemptions as a proposal makes its way through the political process.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Denver Considering Ban of Flavored Vaping Products

“Alaska stacks up 700 tobacco-related deaths and meets a $575 million health care cost bill every year. The bright sparks in the Anchorage Assembly have decided that the best thing they can do to combat the physical and financial toll smoking takes is to attack vaping. Anchorage city officials have decided to treat the best form of tobacco harm reduction as being exactly the same as tobacco. Vaping products will now be placed under the tobacco tax regime which means eliquids and devices will now carry a ridiculous levy of 55% on the wholesale price. Yet again, mirroring the action taken in California, the approach isn’t being conducted in an even-handed manner. While all vape products will now carry the tobacco tax rate, all vape products used for the consumption of marijuana escape the new legislation. In August, Pesko, Courtemanche, and Maclean from the National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper that concluded vape tax rises lead to vapers stopping vaping with the majority switching back to smoking.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Anchorage Absurdity

“The Basalt Town Council, on Tuesday night, showed its support for investing a significant portion of its tobacco tax dollars into Basalt Elementary School and the Aspen Hope Center to further bolster the community’s mental health services. In 2018, Basalt voters overwhelmingly approved a tobacco tax question that went onto levy an additional $2 per pack of cigarettes purchased as well as a 40% tax on all other tobacco products sold in town. However, in accordance with the Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights, the town had to briefly stop collecting the revenue generated from the tobacco tax after underestimating how much it would bring in during its first year of collection. Subsequently, in 2019, the town only collected $29,162 in tobacco tax revenue. No longer bound by TABOR’s restrictions, the town has projected that by the end of 2020 it will have collected $480,000 in tobacco tax.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Basalt’s tobacco tax dollars going toward local mental health services

“The Swedish government voted to implement a swinging tax on eliquids. The blinkered policy is set to punish those needing higher strength liquids the most meaning that current smokers and recent quitters may be dissuaded from trying or continuing with vaping. It comes on the back of years of negative news stories whipping up fears of teen epidemics. The new tax, to begin from January 1 2021, is on two levels. Eliquids up to 15mg/ml in strength will be taxed at 2 Krona per millilitre (17.5p), liquids over 15mg/ml will be taxed at 4 Krona (35p). This means a 10ml bottle is going to cost £1.75 and £3.50 more leading to a huge rise in cost for heavy users and a deterrent for smokers considering switching.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Sweden Hits Harm Reduction In The Pocket

“A study led by Stéphane Legleye from the Faculté de Médecine at the Université Paris‐Sud has not been able to find evidence of a teen gateway from vaping into smoking. She worked alongside Henri‐Jean Aubin, Bruno Falissard, François Beck, and Stanislas Spilka and found that vaping worked to keep kids away from smoking initiation. They looked at data from 24111 French adolescents aged 17-18.5 years. All these individuals self-reported previously experimenting with either e‐cigarettes or tobacco. The study mirrors findings from France in 2019, where the authors concluded: “Our results found no evidence of an increased risk of transitioning to daily smoking at 17 among ever-smokers who also experimented with e-cigarettes.”

ARTICLE LINK:

French Study Can’t Find A Gateway

“Quebec intends to ban the sale of flavoured vaping cartridges and limit their nicotine content after a public health report warned of a major increase in youth vaping in the province. Dubé said the health ministry intends to limit nicotine concentration to 20 mg/mL. One cigarette, for comparison, contains about 8 mg of nicotine.”

BILL TARLING — Quebec continues to just accept the bogus or debunked fraudulent anti-vaping studies, and refuses to acknowledge true harm reduction scientific studies. They also continue to conflate e-liquid product vaping with other alternative market versions, as well as with smoking in order to duped the public into supporting their anti-vaping agenda.

ARTICLE LINK:

Quebec to ban vaping flavours and restrict nicotine content

“The World Health Organization (WHO) says vaping is a gateway to smoking but its own figures show an accelerating decline in teens using tobacco – so where is this gateway? It helps their argument to claim that e-cigarettes are a tobacco product despite the lack of tobacco. The organisation has announced its intention to conduct a 12-month campaign against tobacco so we can all look forward to its stream of lies continuing into 2021 in the lead up to the next Conference of Parties. There is precious little evidence about the addictiveness of nicotine or the long-term risks it poses. Evidence of cardiovascular disease and lung disorders is absent, especially as Stanton Glantz had his work of fiction retracted. Evidence of brain damage came from two disreputable mouse studies and isn’t supported by examples of famous geniuses. If teen vaping rates are genuinely rising in other parts of Europe and the smoking rates continue to fall then either there can be no gateway.”

ARTICLE LINK:

Where Is The Gateway?