CASAA vaping testimonial #13,509. CASAA Live discusses AVM’s recent Q&A with FDA’s Brian King. Tobacco Control ignores low youth smoking. Flavor ban backfires for black community in Massachusetts. Supreme Court declines to hear LA flavor ban case. Calls to Action and more!
Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to the audio/video versions of this post!
CALL TO ACTION // Nebraska Vapor Tax
LB 584, a 5c/mL tax on e-liquid scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday, was pulled from the agenda, potentially for changes that may include a 20% wholesale tax which could mean a price increase from the original 5c/mL.
TAKE ACTION: Nebraska – Stop a Vapor Tax
CALL TO ACTION // Maryland Flavor Ban
SB 259 requires low risk, smoke-free alternatives–products used by millions of adults to quit/avoid smoking–to be flavored like tobacco, prohibiting even FDA-authorized flavors.
A hearing was held on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 1 PM.
TAKE ACTION: Stop the Maryland Flavor Ban
CALL TO ACTION // Hawai’i Vape Tax
HB 537 would subject vapor products to the state’s 70% tobacco tax.
Hawai’ians are encouraged to TAKE ACTION NOW!
TAKE ACTION: Stop the Hawai’i Vape Tax
CALL TO ACTION UPDATE // Hawai’i Flavor Ban
HB 551 will dangerously take away all non-tobacco flavors (including 0 mg vapes) from legal adults–many who use flavored low risk products to avoid relapsing to smoking!
TAKE ACTION: Stop the Hawai’i Flavor Ban
CALL TO ACTION // Connecticut Flavor Ban
HB 6488 would force adults who have switched to pleasant-tasting, low risk alternatives to smoking to go back to products that taste like tobacco or menthol. This bill already had one hearing on February 1st, 2023.
TAKE ACTION: Stop the Connecticut Flavor Ban
CALL TO ACTION // New Mexico Flavor Ban
HB 94 had a hearing in the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee. If you live in New Mexico, please click the link below and TAKE ACTION NOW!
TAKE ACTION: Stop the New Mexico Flavor Ban
CALL TO ACTION // Oregon Flavor Ban
HB 3090 would ban the sale of nicotine and tobacco products in flavors other than fake “tobacco.” This prohibition would include everything from smoke-free nicotine pouches to vapor products and menthol cigarettes.
TAKE ACTION: Stop the Oregon Flavor Ban
TOBACCO CONTROL // Public Health Not “Helping” Black Community
“With the flavor ban in Massachusetts leading to more cigarette sales in the region and an increase in smoking among black women, it seems clear that menthol prohibitions are ineffective mechanisms for improving public health in the black community.”
https://twitter.com/gbentley1/status/1631024633636876289
READ MORE: Massachusetts menthol ban increased smoking among black women, research finds
LEGAL ACTIONS // Supreme Court Turns Deaf Ear to Flavor Ban Appeal
“The Supreme Court declined without comment to hear the L.A. County appeal—possibly a bad sign for Reynolds’ challenge of the statewide flavor ban approved by California voters last year. “
-Reported by CASAA director Jim McDonald for Vaping360
READ MORE: Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of L.A. County Flavor Ban
ADVOCACY // Take Action In Vape Shops
Did you know CASAA has a Pamphlet & Graphics download page? And (thanks to an excellent suggestion by Michigan vape shop owner Marc Slis) we now offer an eye-catching new “About CASAA” flyer to display at vape shops or wherever else low risk alternatives to smoking are sold!
FIND OUT MORE: CASAA Pamphlets & Graphics
TOBACCO CONTROL // Where’s the Parade?
“In 2020, a third of the 985 trackable Healthy People objectives were met; the rest improved some, stayed the same or got worse. So what happened with high school smoking?
It plummeted. After passing the goal in 2013 (15.7 percent), teen cigarette use kept on falling. At the ten-year mark, in 2019, it hit 6 percent.
The Healthy People 2030 youth smoking target is 3.4 percent. The newest national figures suggest we’ve already left that number in the dust. The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) pegged high school cigarette use at an astonishingly low 2.0 percent. That’s even just a puff in the past 30 days, not daily use.”
Also youth tobacco use typically was reported separately–middle school (MS) and high school (HS)–using percentages, but by reporting the 2022 “even one puff in the past 30 days” for vaping rates as a combined “2.55 million” for both middle and high school instead, they’re able to mostly hide the fact that at 3.3% for middle school and 14.2% for high school vaping is still lower than the 5.2% middle school and 17.2% high school smoking rates back in 2009.
"Vaping appears to be displacing smoking. Set aside the moral panic over vaping and legitimate fears of this new unknown; what’s left looks like a public health success story."https://t.co/wZE2xIl0cz
— Jukka Kelovuori (@jkelovuori) March 1, 2023
READ MORE: Where’s the Parade?
TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION // Fighting Misinformation with Facts
NO “REVERSAL” in the decline of youth tobacco use.
(Now just 3.08 million out of 27.28 million.)
NO sign of “GATEWAY” to teen smoking.
(Now just 1 million out of 27.28 million.)
Teen vaping was a trend, NOT an “EPIDEMIC.”
(Now just 2.55 million out of 27.28 million.)
COMMENTARY // A “Must-Read” Critique of FDA
You might think that since e-cigarettes are so much safer than combustible cigarettes, that the standards for getting authorized by the FDA would be more attainable. You would be wrong. Because that would be a rational approach to public health.”
~Jacob Grier
READ MORE: Who needs the FDA Center for Tobacco Products?
TESTIMONIAL // Anecdote # 13,509
Donna is a grandmother who quit smoking after 40 years by switching to flavored vaping products. Non-tobacco flavors are now banned in her state, but she won’t be defeated!
What’s YOUR real story? Submit your testimonial today!
SUBMIT YOUR STORY: CASAA Testimonial Project
CASAA MEDIA // Spotify
CASAA’s podcast is on Spotify! Please give us a follow here:
CASAA IN ACTION // Twitter Spaces
The week we recap the Reagan-Udall sessions with Amanda Wheeler, Tim Andrews and CASAA CEO Alex Clark, who all presented to the panel about FDA’s issues regulating reduced-harm products. What grade would you give FDA? Also available on CASAA’s Spotify channel (above.)
— CASAA (@CASAAmedia) October 26, 2022
CASAA IN ACTION // CASAA Live
If you missed the most recent CASAA Live show, check out the replay now! CASAA Live is on alternating Saturdays at 4:30 PM ET/3:30 PM CT/2:30 PM MT/1:30 PM PT on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter!
If you missed the last CASAA Live episode you can catch up NOW before the next show!
This week on CASAA Live, CASAA CEO Alex Clark and Member Coordinator Kristin Noll-Marsh discuss what Brian King, the new Director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said (and DIDN’T say) about vaping during the Q&A he had on February 24, 2023 with Greg Conley and Allison Boughner of American Vapor Manufacturers.
TAKE ACTION // CASAA State Facebook Groups
Have you joined your CASAA State Facebook group yet? Check it out now! Click the link below, click on your state on the map, then click the “Join Now” button to go to your state’s group page. It’s as easy as that to stay updated on local happenings, meet local advocates and never miss a Call to Action in your state!
Don’t forget to also follow our official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CASAAmedia
FIND YOUR GROUP: CASAA State Locator
CASAA STORE // Apparel and More
Show your support by shopping our store! Our president (and brilliant website/swag designer) Danielle has added some awesome new designs to CASAA’s apparel shop!
VISIT: CASAA Apparel and Swag Store
CASAA MEDIA // Podcast
Catch up on past tobacco harm reduction news with Alex and Logan on the CASAA podcasts on SoundCloud every Monday and now live on YouTube and Facebook every Saturday at 3:30 PM.
SoundCloud: