A Victory For Tobacco Companies
Almost two years ago, The State of California enacted a law that banned "flavored tobacco" products. However, the tobacco companies successfully got the required number of signatures on a petition, which then forced the state to take the law to a proposition that would then require it to be passed by the people in the next election.
That proposition was Prop 31 in our last election cycle.
Prop 31 was being heavily advertised as being a proposition that protected children from being enticed into using tobacco by banning "candy tobacco", and apparently that advertising worked because more than 60% of Californians voted YES on prop 31.
However, what the law actually does, is it makes it illegal for anyone to sell any "flavored tobacco" to anyone at all in a face-to-face style transaction. It does not ban the purchasing of those products via online sales nor does it ban the selling of those products via online sales. It is only the "in-person" sales technique that is banned.
And what constitutes a "flavored tobacco" product is a vape juice that has any flavor OTHER THAN tobacco flavor, and it also bans menthol cigarettes, because apparently there was no way around considering a menthol cigarette "flavored tobacco". All other tobacco products remain legal to sell, including flavored pipe tobacco.
California Eliminates Tobacco Competition
This law is clearly targeting vaping and only vaping.
The assumption behind this law is that children will get accustomed to "smoking" when they use candy-flavored vape juice, and then when they get older, they will naturally switch to smoking tobacco. So the state wanted this law enacted - they claim - to prevent children from eventually smoking tobacco.
Tobacco is an established product that causes an array of life-threatening and deadly diseases. There are thousands of known carcinogens in tobacco smoke that have been connected to the cause of all kinds of diseases including various cardiovascular diseases, heart diseases, lung cancer, and throat cancer ... to name a few.
It is a scientific fact that the chemicals in vaping do not contain any of the carcinogens that are in tobacco smoke.
In fact, since there is no combustion going on during vaping (meaning no organic material is being burned), there are no carcinogens in the vapor. Vaping is a process where the vape juice is boiled and the "steam" is inhaled. So no combustion is happening at all.
California already has laws - that are enforced - that make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 from purchasing vape products.
Also, to my knowledge, there has been no established link between minors who vape who then become adults and switch to smoking tobacco. This is a mere assumption claiming that vape juice is a "gateway drug" that leads to smoking tobacco.
It remains a fact that there has been no established connection between vaping and any disease at all.
Therefore, to state that vaping is potentially deadly to humans is a mere assumption and in spite of all scientific studies done so far to find a pathogen, none has been found. In fact, no one has ever had to undergo medical treatment as a result of vaping properly.
There are exceptions to what I am saying of course, but in every case, those exceptions were not because a person was vaping a standard vape juice. They were vaping a substance that was known to be dangerous if it was vaped. And those substances contained vitamin E oil, which is very dangerous and even deadly if it is vaped.
But people do stupid things. In fact, people drive their cars recklessly every day and end up killing themselves, but we don't outlaw cars now, do we?
Vape juice does not contain vitamin E oil.
If lawmakers truly cared about public health, then why not ban tobacco products across the board? Could it be that tobacco companies are big campaign fund contributions? Or maybe they even fund the personal interests of lawmakers by investing in their private corporations ... I wouldn't put it past tobacco companies to even deposit cash into some offshore bank account that a lawmaker has. The fact remains that big tobacco has the money to buy the laws that they want.
Prop 31 has made it illegal to sell any and all vape juice in California that has any flavor in it other than tobacco flavor. So it remains legal to sell vape juice ... as long as it tastes like tobacco.
In terms of nicotine addiction, smoking tobacco remains the deadliest means by which a person can consume nicotine. That pathogen toward death is scientifically known and well-established.
There is no known connection between vaping and any risk to human health. In spite of countless studies that have been conducted thus far.
This means that in the context of a person using nicotine by inhaling a substance, vaping remains the safest means to do that. It is far safer than smoking and therefore the healthiest alternative to smoking.
But now, in California, millions of people will no longer be able to easily obtain vape juice unless they buy it in tobacco flavor, which I can tell you from experience, is completely disgusting. I would rather smoke tobacco than vape a tobacco-flavored vape juice.
This law seems to me to be nothing less than our legislators backing big tobacco by keeping tobacco and all of its related products perfectly legal to purchase over the counter. Because it legally eliminates the competition against tobacco by making all of the desirable and safer alternatives illegal.
And the voters were manipulated into making this law happen by telling them it would protect our children.
How about we put a federal proposition into the next election and inform the public of how many children's lives WILL BE SAVED if we merely ban assault rifles and handguns across the board and see if the people pass that law. Since an overwhelming majority of people seem rather keen to pass laws that protect children, I have no doubt that such a law would pass, and that law would make far more sense than Prop 31.
The result of Prop 31 will be that more people smoke tobacco. Being someone who vapes, if I normally purchased my vape juice over the counter (which I don't because I make my own vape juice and I buy those ingredients online), I would most certainly go back to using tobacco rather than vape a tobacco flavored vape juice. So I can assure you that this law will only end up causing people to switch back to tobacco instead of using the healthier alternative.
How is this not tyranny from California legislators? How is this not our government enacting laws that serve to protect the interests of the big tobacco companies? Sure they lost the ability to sell menthol cigarettes, but does anyone think that's going to hurt them? Menthol cigarette smokers will switch to smoking regular cigarettes and the tobacco companies know it.
This is a victory for big tobacco, plain and simple.