It’s been another busy week and keeping up with the latest news on vaping has been difficult. Tracking the latest updates from individual states and provinces in the United States and Canada, monitoring the media, passing along and responding to current calls to action is almost a job unto itself. We are heartened to see how many regular folk, outside of industry, have gotten involved and are active every day. This, and the fact that many in harm reduction and drug policy circles have also turned their attention to the war against e-cigarettes, is a hopeful development.
We will inevitably miss some of the headline news from the last week with so much happening but here is our best effort to highlight the most noteworthy events.
United States
he Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump will be meeting with stakeholders, including industry, on Friday November 22nd to discuss vaping product regulations. As of the time of writing, we can confirm that representatives for both VTA and AVA will be at that meeting. CNBC has posted an article that lists others in attendance.
The Santa Maria (CA) city council has voted to ban the sale of all flavoured e-liquids within city limits, with the exception of tobacco, effective July 1, 2020.
Anderson (CA) city council has voted to ban the sale of all flavoured e-liquids with the exception of tobacco and menthol flavours effective within 30 days of the vote taken Nov 19, 2019.
Long Beach (CA) flavour ban passes first vote, with the second vote planned for December.
Massachusetts is holding their one public hearing on the Governor’s proposed vaping ban on Friday November 22nd. It appears that one of the more contentious provisions, the ability to seize your vehicle, has been removed from the bill. Dr. Michael Siegel has been updating his blog regularly with the latest news and Jim McDonald has an excellent article summarizing the ban.
The Committee on Energy and Commerce discussed H.R. 2339, the "Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2019" (which discussed vaping, not smoking), on November 19th. The full hearing has been posted here.
Canada
British Columbia proposed tough new e-cigarette legislation that would restrict nicotine to below federal limits (20 mg/ml versus 66 mg/ml), restrict available flavours, mandate plain packaging for e-liquids, restrict flavoured products (those that will remain, unclear at this time) to adult only shops, and restrict promotion and communication about e-cigarettes. Provincial sales tax on vaping products will also increase from 7% to 20% as of January 1st, 2020.
The Vaping Industry and Trade Association (VITA) held a 2.5 hour webinar on November 19th stating its purpose and goals, breakdown of membership and voting power of its members, and committee led initiatives. They also announced that they have enlisted Dr. Mark Tyndall as the Harm Reduction Advisor to the association. See their full website here.
Prince Edward Island is set to raise the legal age for purchasing e-cigarettes as well as cigarettes to 21 and to ban the sale of some flavouring agents (unclear at this time). The private member’s bill received unanimous backing on November 19th.
As expected, contaminated cartridges are suspected to be making their way across the border into Canada. VITA issued a press release warning the public that potentially dangerous black market THC cartridges may be circulating in Canada.
International
The E-cigarette Summit took place in the UK with some great speakers and panels. You can find all of the video recordings here.
If we've missed any critical news from your area, get in touch with us at saddlehorseblues@gmail.com. We're doing our best to cover the top headlines but we're bound to miss some.
