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Vaping Mail Ban Update, USPS Webinar, Vape Research & more – Tobacco Harm Reduction News

Vaping “Mail Ban” update. Heads up Boulder County and Corte Madera! Sign up for March 9th USPS webinar with CASAA et al. Cities banning vaping in private residences. Research supporting vaping. Lawmaker reverses flavor ban support and more!

Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to the audio version of this post!

CALL TO ACTION // National “Vape Mail Ban” Update

We’ve been made aware that some lawmakers are refusing to acknowledge the validity of organized consumer campaigns, insisting constituents contact them directly. We won’t let that stop us! (See new note above Action #2.)

casaa cta usps vape mail

TAKE ACTION: USPS – Vape Mail Ban Comment Period Is Open

DO MORE: The more official members CASAA has, the stronger we are together. If you haven’t yet officially joined CASAA, click here to Join Now for free!

HEADS UP! // Corte Madera, California

A smoking ban in private residences exempts smoking medical marijuana, but bans vaping products, which are not shown to harm bystanders and actually help people quit smoking, the activity said to be the #1 cause of preventable disease.

casaa call to action residential vaping ban

TAKE ACTION:  Corte Madera advances smoking/vaping ban for housing complexes

DO MORE: If you live in California, join the CASAA California Facebook Group

HEADS UP! // Boulder County, Colorado

Public health groups are using the misleading “no safe level” cliché (nothing is ever really 100% safe) and–without any evidence–claiming a need to “protect residents from aerosols from vaping” in order to ban public vaping, even if the business wants to allow it.

TAKE ACTION:  Boulder County commissioners to consider updates to smoking restrictions

DO MORE: If you live in Colorado, join the CASAA Colorado Facebook Group

TAKING ACTION // Free USPS Comments Webinar

Join CASAA CEO Alex Clark, AVA president Greg Conley, Paul Blair and Michael Scanlon on March 9th for a free webinar discussing how and why to submit comments to USPS regarding the “vape mail ban!”

SIGN UP: Free Webinar — Commenting on the USPS Vape Mail Restrictions

LOCAL UPDATE// Jurupa Valley Private Residence Ban

While not mentioned in the article, the new smoking ban ordinance in private residences defines “smoking” to include using #vaping products “for the purpose of ‘circumventing’ the prohibition of smoking,” citing NO evidence of harm and ignoring use to quit smoking!

READ MORE: Jurupa Valley bans smoking in new apartment complexes

LOCAL UPDATE// West Hollywood Private Residence Ban

Smoking ban in private residences that includes low risk vaping, which helps people QUIT smoking, and with no scientific evidence of harm to bystanders, will now kick in March 1, 2022.

READ MORE: WeHo Council Reverses Course, Sets Total Ban on Smoking/Vaping in Apartments/Condos to Begin in a Year

PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY // Exposing Anti-Vaping Lies

Public health advocate falsely claims teens “enticed” to vape because of “flavors” when real candy/sweets are much cheaper/easier/legal to buy? Outright lies that vaping isn’t less harmful and – quite laughably – says the term “vaping” was created by the tobacco industry!

READ MORE: Going ‘InDepth’ on youth e-cigarette use

TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // Tips From Vapers

CDC Tobacco Free has launched a new round of “Tips From Former Smokers” ads, celebrating 10 years of its campaign essentially designed to “scare smokers straight.” Tell us your tips to help people quit smoking & tag it on Twitter with #CDCTips. Then click the link below to add your story to the CASAA Testimonial Project!

ADD YOUR STORY: Real People. Real Stories. Submit Your Testimony.

OPINION // Public Health Fail

California was at the forefront of recognizing that the war on drugs was a moral and empirical failure. And yet, the legislature has eagerly committed itself to a new war on flavored tobacco.”

~ Guy Bentley, director of consumer freedom policy at Reason Foundation

READ MORE: California’s voters can save the state from ban-happy lawmakers

TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // Vaping Politics

In a rare turn of events, a politician seems to have come to their senses about vaping!

After voting in favor of a flavor ban, Green MLA Steve Howard (Prince Edward Island) apparently did a little more research into the topic and decided that flavor bans could be detrimental to public health.

As far as a harm reduction tool goes, vaping is a powerful tool that we should not be discouraging people from using. And the flavours are a key component to uptake.” Howard now says.

We hope more politicians will finally come to the same conclusion before it’s too late!

READ MORE: P.E.I. Green MLA says bill banning vaping flavours could encourage smoking

PUBLIC HEALTH // New Zealand

New Zealand adult smoking drops from over 30% to under 13%, lawmakers see value of vaping for smoking cessation and studies show there is no “youth vaping epidemic” in New Zealand. However, that’s not stopping them from trying to pass regulations that will reduce adult appeal.

READ MORE: Tobacco tax revenue plunges as Kiwis kick the habit

PUBLIC HEALTH // Exposing Anti-Vaping Policy Bias

Youth vaping declined 2019-2020 but not cigarette smoking. So FDA’s Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan is a series of actions to stop youth use of tobacco, “especially e-cigarettes.” Shouldn’t that say “especially smoking??”

READ MORE: SAFE GC Coalition: National Youth Tobacco and E-Cig Use Survey

RESEARCH // Something to Consider

We’ve long said that eliminating a drug doesn’t eliminate the reasons why people started using the drug–including nicotine. If you start banning things to “help people,” be prepared for them to move to alternatives that could turn out to be more harmful!

READ MORE: More People Are Dying from Obesity and Excess Body Fat than Smoking, Research Suggests

RESEARCH // Youth Lung Injury Risk Study

Study looking at youth lung injury risks inadvertently illustrates importance of distinguishing between THC vaping, illicit THC vaping & nicotine vaping in youth “tobacco use” surveys. Don’t forget – nicotine vapes were not the cause of the ill-named “E-cigarette, or Vaping, Associated Lung Injury.”

READ MORE: Vaping marijuana associated with more symptoms of lung damage than vaping or smoking nicotine

RESEARCH // Vaping & Chemotherapy

Comparing the impact of vaping vs. smoking on chemotherapy, Dr. Lurdes Quiemado at the OU College of Medicine has found that vaping–at least when treating some tumors–is “not as harmful as tobacco smoke.”

READ MORE: University of Oklahoma researcher publishes major study on how e-cigarette use impacts chemotherapy

CASAA MEDIA // Podcast

Catch up on past tobacco harm reduction news with Alex and Logan on the CASAA podcasts. Watch for new episodes every Monday!