Despite his opposition to the bills, Delaware Gov. John Carney on Friday said he would let two bills that legalize marijuana and create a recreational industry become law without his signature.
He said he is standing down from his opposition to recreational weed that put him at odds with his party.
Delaware is the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana, marking a milestone in President Joe Biden’s home state after a nearly decades-long fight by advocates and Democrats to loosen restrictions on marijuana.
Carney, in a statement, said he still believes legalizing weed is “not a step forward.”
“I want to be clear that my views on this issue have not changed,” the governor said in a statement, reports USA Today.
Carney said he could not sign the bills because of his concerns about the consequences recreational marijuana will have on children’s health, as well as roadway safety. Along with Delaware House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, the governor is the rare Democrat to oppose weed legalization.
Marijuana, in the quantity of personal use, becomes legal starting Sunday. Delawareans will be allowed to smoke joints, eat gummies and consume weed as they wish in private. It will still be illegal to consume marijuana in public, and employers are still allowed to have a zero-tolerance policy. Recreational weed will not be available for purchase in the state for at least 16 months.
The Delaware General Assembly in March passed two marijuana-related bills: House Bill 1 legalizes the “personal use quantity” of marijuana, which varies by cannabis form, for people ages 21 and older. This is defined as 1 ounce or less of leaf marijuana, 12 grams or less of concentrated cannabis, or cannabis products containing 750 milligrams or less of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
The second bill, House Bill 2, creates and regulates the recreational marijuana industry in Delaware. Within 16 months of the legislation going into effect, the state will distribute 30 retail licenses through a competitive bidding process.
There will be a marijuana-control enforcement fee of 15 percent on recreational sales. This money, lawmakers say, will create grants and services that focus on restorative justice and reducing the state’s prison population.
Last year, Carney vetoed a bill to legalize marijuana that the legislature sent to his desk. He said at the time that the law wasn’t in “the best interest of the state” despite the issue’s popularity within his own party.
When Australia’s government opted to increase taxes on tobacco to curb smoking, Deakin University senior criminology lecturer James Martin predicted it would trigger a mammoth black market.
In 2013, tobacco taxes increased by 12.5 percent and continued to increase each year, according to ABC News.
“The purpose behind that was there’s good evidence from around the world that increasing tobacco prices is a really good way to get people to quit,” Martin said.
“It’s been quite effective in that. But we’re starting to encounter problems with this policy.”
Martin said that increased tobacco taxes had fast-tracked the uptake of vaping in Australia while the black market tobacco industry had boomed.
In the last few weeks, numerous sources have suggested vaping could be a risk factor for either contracting or increasing the severity of COVID-19. These reports are almost entirely based on the speculation from anti-vaping advocates, who rarely receive significant pushback, writes Guy Bentley, director of Consumer Freedom for the Reason Foundation.
Appearing on NBC’s Today Show on March 23, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams postulated, without evidence, that vaping could be the reason young people may be at higher risk from COVID-19 than previously thought. “There are theories that it could be because we know we have a higher proportion of people in the United States and also in Italy who vape,” said Adams.
But [on April 16] the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Bloomberg News, “E-cigarette use can expose the lungs to toxic chemicals, but whether those exposures increase the risk of COVID-19 is not known.”
While seemingly anodyne, the statement differs significantly from those of Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Volkow, recently wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine that vapers could be at high risk for coronavirus.
Similarly, last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey went so far to issue an advisory warning that vaping could worsen the spread of COVID-19. And last month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed, “If you are a smoker or a vaper that does make you more vulnerable.”
Following an apparently unclear email exchange with an FDA official, Bloomberg News published a story with the headline: “Vaping Could Compound Health Risks Tied to Virus, FDA Says,” that prompted Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and 12 public health experts to write to the FDA to complain. The signatories warned the FDA that if its communications are “arbitrary and ill-conceived, spreading fear and confusion with little scientific basis and unpredictable consequences, then it would be better if the FDA and its media spokespeople did not comment further at this time.”
Thankfully, the FDA finally appears to be taking this advice seriously. There is currently no evidence from anywhere in the world showing vapers to be at higher risk for COVID-19, Bentley writes in his editorial.
The Science Media Research Center recently released statements from public health experts to help reporters understand what we do know about smoking, vaping, and COVID-19. “There is no evidence that vaping increases the risk of infection or progression to severe conditions of COVID-19,” said Dr. Caitlin Notley. She added that since switching from smoking to vaping improves cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, smokers who switch “might be expected to have a better prognosis if infected by COVID-19.”
Similar to last year’s outbreak of lung illnesses that were initially wrongly associated with conventional e-cigarettes, but later found to be the result of adulterated black market marijuana products, much of the communication around vaping and COVID-19 is targeted at young people in an effort to get them to stop vaping.
The Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids (CTFK) and Parents Against Vaping Electronic Cigarettes (PAVE) has consistently promoted stories linking vaping and the coronavirus. On April 15, for example, they even promoted a campaign to tell the White House that vape shops are not essential businesses.
“There is growing concern among public health experts that e-cigarettes can put users at greater risk for serious complications from COVID-19, these products are addicting our kids, and they have not been proven to help smokers quit,” says CTFK.
The statement is disingenuous. E-cigarettes have been proven beyond any reasonable doubt to be far safer than combustible cigarettes and consistently shown to help smokers quit. Italy, Spain, France, and Switzerland are keeping their vape shops open because they recognize the public health benefit of ensuring access to safer alternatives to cigarettes.
It’s time for anti-vaping groups to stick to the facts and stop spreading fear and misinformation about a product that is saving millions of lives both in the U.S. and across the globe. Stopping kids from vaping is undoubtedly a noble goal, but it’s not an excuse for misleading the public in ways that could prevent smokers from switching to a dramatically safer product.
The number of vapers has increased significantly worldwide, according to the latest research from the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR).
A new peer-reviewed paper published this week in Drugs, Habits and Social Policy estimates there are now 82 million vapers worldwide. The GSTHR project, from the U.K. public health agency Knowledge Action Change (KAC), found that the 2021 figure represents a 20 percent on that for 2020.
According to KAC, vaping is a significantly safer alternative to smoking. “Each year, there are 8 million smoking-related deaths worldwide,” the organization wrote in a press note. “The growth in the number of vapers, most of whom will have swapped smoking for vaping, is therefore a hugely positive step in efforts to reduce the harms of combustible cigarettes and hasten the end of smoking.”
The new study comes shortly after the U.K. government announced its Swap to Stop scheme, which aims to give 1 million smokers a free vaping starter kit to help them quit smoking. According to KAC, the U.K.’s permissive vaping laws have helped drive smoking to its lowest level on record.
“The U.K.’s support of vaping for tobacco harm reduction is in sharp contrast to the situation in many countries, however,” KAC wrote. “GSTHR data shows that vapes are banned in 36 countries, and in a further 84 countries there is a regulatory and legislative vacuum. Millions of smokers who want to switch to much safer vaping cannot do so, or may be forced to purchase potentially unsafe products on black or grey markets, due to bans, or poor or non-existent product regulation.”
The GSTHR research shows that despite restrictive regulations or bans in many countries, increasing numbers of people are choosing to switch to safer alternatives to combustible tobacco. “Along with other countries like New Zealand, the U.K. offers strong evidence that positive government messaging about vaping for tobacco harm reduction can hasten reductions in smoking prevalence,” wrote KAC.
“But an international meeting on tobacco control later this year could jeopardize global progress on reducing smoking-related death and disease through tobacco harm reduction,” the public health agency added, referring to the meeting of the parties to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control scheduled for November in Panama City.
The WHO remains opposed to the use of safer nicotine products for smoking cessation, despite supporting harm reduction in other areas of public health such as substance use and HIV/AIDS prevention.
“The updated Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction estimate suggests that there are now 82 million people worldwide who vape, proving that consumers find these products attractive,” said Gerry Stimson, director of KAC and emeritus professor at Imperial College London. “As evidenced in the U.K., millions are making the switch from smoking. Safer nicotine products give the world’s 1 billion smokers the chance to quit using alternatives that pose significantly fewer risks to their health.”
A proposal by the government of Quebec to ban nontobacco-flavored nicotine vaping products will have negative consequences for public health if enacted, according to the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA).
In addition to the flavor restrictions, the recently released draft legislation proposes a volume limit of 2 mL on prefilled devices and a limit of 30 mL on refill containers. Additionally, the regulations would restrict nicotine concentrations to 20 mg/mL and prohibit the use of any form, appearance or function that may be attractive to minors, both of which have already been regulated by the federal government.
If the draft rules are implemented, Quebec, with its population of 8.5 million, will become the largest Canadian province to prohibit flavors, according to media reports. Quebec is the country’s second-most populous province. According to the Alliance of Vape Shops in Quebec, there are over 400 independent vape shops in the province, employing over 2,200 people and generating more than $300 million in economic activity. The trade group predicts the shops will all close.
Quebec’s decision to ban flavors is a major win for tobacco companies, out-of-province vendors and contraband sellers.
In 2021, federal health agency Health Canada proposed a flavor ban that was scheduled to take effect in early 2022, but that plan seems to have been abandoned or postponed indefinitely without explanation. Health Canada’s updated vaping products regulations page makes no mention of the flavor restrictions.
The CVA says Quebec proposed its rules despite warnings by the industry about their negative impacts. Vaping is proven to be significantly less harmful than smoking, according to the CVA, which says there is substantial evidence from jurisdictions that have already implemented flavor bans that the public health outcome is negative, as many vapers will return to smoking and fewer smokers will switch to vaping.
“Quebec’s decision to ban flavors is a major win for tobacco companies, out-of-province vendors and contraband sellers,” said Darryl Tempest, government relations counsel to the CVA board, in a statement. “What Quebec has done is shift demand to tobacco owned products, retailers outside of Quebec and criminals. Quebec’s small businesses and domestic industry will be irreparably harmed in favor of multinational corporations,” said Tempest.
The vaping and tobacco industries in South Korea are speculating that the government could raise taxes on e-cigarettes to increase tax revenue.
Even after officials faced fierce backlash from the sector and smokers, the country’s finance minister still commented on the possibility.
The remark was made by the country’s Economy and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho in a plenary session at the National Assembly on April 17, according to Pulse News.
In the session, lawmaker Bae Jun-young asked Choo a question about the government’s stance on taxing e-cigarettes, saying that “cig-a-like e-cigarettes contain harmful toxins like regular cigarettes.”
“I was aware that some officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare recommended that e-cigarettes be classified as tobacco products, like other regular cigarettes,” said Choo, indicating that “cig-a-like e-cigarettes” should be taxed at a rate equivalent to taxes on regular tobacco products if the two have the same level of harmful effects on the human body.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance said that “there is no consideration on raising tax on e-cigarettes.”
Vaping products are currently taxed lower than regular nicotine delivery systems. For regular cigarettes priced at 4,500won ($3.39) per pack, the government levies a tax of 3,323won, including a special consumption tax of 594won and excise tax.
For e-cigarettes, however, the tax amounts to only 90 percent of the regular tax at 3,004won.
Altria Group Inc is set to face trial Monday in a lawsuit by San Francisco’s public school district accusing the company of fueling a teen vaping epidemic, along with e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc.
The San Francisco Unified School District says teachers and staff “have had to go to extreme lengths to respond to the ever-growing number of students using e-cigarettes on school grounds,” and is seeking to force Altria to pay for the cost of tackling the problem, Reuters reports.
Altria, which held a 35 percent stake in Juul from 2018 until earlier this year, faces thousands of similar cases from individuals, local government entities and states.
The San Francisco school district’s case was chosen by U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco, who is presiding over much of the litigation, as a bellwether or test case.
Next week’s trial before Orrick will mark the second time one of those cases goes before a jury. An earlier trial, in a case brought by the state of Minnesota, ended in a settlement on Monday as it was nearing its end, although the terms have yet to be disclosed.
“Most of the allegations raised in this suit occurred years before we made a minority economic investment in Juul,” Altria said in a statement on Thursday. “We believe this case lacks merit and will defend ourselves vigorously.”
Innokin has launched its “Vape For The Planet” campaign aimed at promoting sustainable vaping practices.
The campaign coincides with Earth Day 2023 and seeks to educate consumers about making environmentally friendly choices while providing discounts on sustainable product lines.
“Innokin has always focused on sustainability, with fully recyclable packaging, battery recycling initiatives through Recycle 4 You in France, and reforestation efforts with One Tree Planted to mark the company’s 10-year anniversary in 2021, which resulted in 3,650 trees being planted in the Amazon rainforest,” a press release states.
Innokin’s core product lines, including the Platform series and Endura series, are designed to last for 1-3 years of regular use, providing a sustainable and reliable alternative to combustible tobacco. In addition, Innokin has taken steps to reduce waste in the disposable category, with INNOBAR F3 and Aquios Bar models boasting a 95 percent reduction in plastic, by using a reinforced card shell design.
The “Vape For The Planet” campaign will begin with a direct donation to One Tree Planted to conserve nature and promote reforestation efforts through the planting of trees.
The company will also offer site-wide discounts on sustainable vaping devices through their online outlet, giving vapers the opportunity to directly reduce their environmental impact when vaping.
“To further promote sustainable vaping practices, Innokin will be producing a Vape For The Planet survey to gain insight into how the industry can reduce waste,” the release states. “The survey will be available on Innokin’s website Vape For The Planet, where customers can also learn more about sustainable vaping practices and Innokin’s efforts towards a greener future.”
Many of the environmental concerns raised about vaping stem from the use of disposable vapes, which produce more waste than refillable, reusable vaping devices.
The “Vape For The Planet” campaign seeks to educate consumers about the benefits of using permanent vaping devices, which significantly reduce the environmental impact of vaping while providing a long-term alternative to combustible tobacco.
Vaping products that contain flavors or aromas other than tobacco could soon be banned in Quebec under new rules proposed by the government Wednesday.
The Quebec government hopes the change to the provincial regulations will make vaping products less attractive to minors.
“We’re not eliminating vaping, but we’re eliminating flavors,” Health Minister Christian Dubé told Radio-Canada in an interview. “There will only be the taste of nicotine and all other flavors will be prohibited.”
The minister responsible for sports, Isabelle Charest, said the changes are about keeping “extremely harmful” products out of the reach of minors, according to CBC.
“They start to vape because they find it fun or attractive to have a vape pen that tastes like strawberries,” she said, adding that sweet-flavored products make up 90 percent of what minors vape, with only the remaining 10 percent choosing tobacco-flavored products.
The draft regulations also include proposals to limit the maximum nicotine concentration in vaping products to 20 milligrams per milliliter, restrict vape tank and capsule capacity to two milliliters, and limit the maximum volume refill capacity of liquid cartridges to 30 milliliters.
Vaping products will be prohibited from resembling toys, food or taking other forms that might be attractive to minors.
The ministry also acknowledges the new rules will likely mean job losses and a drop in sales for companies primarily selling vaping products.
As part of the new regulations, there will be a 45-day public consultation period.
If we look back at vape events and conventions over the past decade, many have come, and most have gone. In 2013, the Electronic Cigarette Convention, known as ECC, was launched in Ontario, California, and for many years was the 800-pound gorilla of e-cigarette trade shows. Others caught wind of the successful event and copied it to the point of where there were dozens of events running year-round throughout the United States.
The ECC held its last event in 2019. However, the international vape market recreated the ECC’s former success with other vaping events. Cities like London, Paris, Moscow and others became powerhouse venues, and then a new entity, IECIE, jumped onto the show scene in the global center of vaping hardware manufacturing: Shenzhen, China. The success of Shenzhen’s show led to the later creation of an additional Shanghai event.
Shenzhen-based companies design and manufacture an estimated 90 percent of the world’s vaping and e-cigarette devices. There are more than 1,000 factories and thousands of support companies that form the supply chain throughout Guangdong Province and the rest of China.
IECIE, a division of mega-event company Informa, launched in January 2016. Over the years, the company has been a major player in international vaping events. Even with the cumbersome visa issues getting into China, the world vape market knew that IECIE brought together the manufacturers that they needed, and the exhibitors showed up in droves. IECIE officials thought that “if they build it, they will come.”
Vapitaly president Mosè Giacomello
Informa puts on 230-plus events annually and brings in 60,000 exhibitors in many industries aside from vaping. Ironically, China put a heavy hammer down on vaping last year by banning flavors, except for tobacco, and is vehemently fighting underage sales of products. Currently, they are still allowed to export products, which is key in the global supply chain.
Those new rules caused many major vaping electronics manufacturing companies’ stocks to drop after the regulations were announced, and most companies have cut back on employees or closed completely. What the Chinese smokers in China will do is unknown since their choices have now been severely curtailed. Numerous experts have predicted that many will return to combustible products.
With all the new regulations in place, event companies like Informa have but one direction to follow, and that is to move the events outside of China. That new path will lead to Verona, Italy, May 27–29, as the IECIE team joins with another longstanding vape player, Vapitaly, in their first joint venture.
The event will be at the Fiere di Verona exhibition center, which houses 8,000 square feet of meeting space, and organizers hope to entice more than 100 exhibitors and 10,000 guests like they did in 2022. Fortunately, Vapitaly has had a successful track record since 2015 in achieving the lofty goal.
In this post-Covid world, it’s also a matter of information sharing and education as well as sales, and the event will bring in speakers and forums to discuss the challenges and possible solutions for the future of vaping. Vapitaly, the only international vaping exhibition in Italy, is already the world’s largest event in the vape space, so this new collaboration should cement its place as leaders in the industry.
Mose Giacomello, Vapitaly president, stated on the company’s website that Vapitaly is “ready to return with all the latest products in the sector, with a focus on internationalization, and [is] proud to have been chosen by the most important vaping show in Asia, which will be in Italy, and Europe, for the first time.
“This major opportunity to meet and do business comes in the wake of the efforts made in recent years to enhance and develop the sector. We are looking forward to seeing operators and professionals from Italy and abroad once more and to seeing vapers browsing the stands of our exhibition.”
An industry player in Italy, who asked to remain anonymous, said that they shared some concerns about what they called “the Chinese vendors,” and fear that they will not follow the stringent rules at the event itself. Laws forbid the sale of products on-site, but IECIE has assured Vapitaly that they understand all the laws as well as the very specific labeling requirements, that IECIE has conveyed the regulations to all their exhibitors and that they will abide by them.
IECIE will have all the current products on display, including disposables, open pod systems and closed pod systems, atomizers, mods, e-liquids and vaping accessories along with new and better products in this ever-changing world of technology.
The challenge that IECIE faces, aside from the regulations about sales of vape products in China, is that those regulations also shut down the Chinese vaping event industry. Without a market in their home country, vaping event planners have no other choice than to form collaborations with other international companies—or hold their own events outside China.
And that is what their next chapter will present as IECIE launches its second IECIE Vape Show Jakarta, Aug. 3–5, with another planned for next winter. This is a partnership with 2firsts.com, a multifaceted supply chain and operations team that works with compliance issues and manufacturing with vape entities worldwide.
This will be the first show that IECIE will sponsor outside China, and they are in conversations with other entities to expand further. They currently have offices in Dubai, New York and Brazil and have a satellite office in Jakarta.
Even though the Southeast Asia market is estimated to reach $766 million in 2023, and grow exponentially, Informa sees that expansion and partnering with the Western world and Middle East as critical. They are also working on an event to be held in Saudi Arabia.
The August show in Jakarta is expected to bring in 300 exhibitors and house them in 12,000 square feet of floor space, a 30 percent increase from 2022.
Norm Bour is the founder of VapeMentors and works with vape businesses worldwide. He can be reached at norm@VapeMentors.com.
