Tobacco War Update - PACT Act, the CTP, FDA, Seneca Nation, Menthol, and e-Cigs

It's that time again.  While the USPS runs $3BB in the red, Congress has refused to increase the price of stamps, and as more of our mail mysteriously never makes it to the final destination, FDA's Tobacco Control Act (TCA) and BATF's Prevent all Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT) continue to fight to keep all tobacco (including Swedish Snus but not Cigars) from being shipped via USPS.  Did anyone at the Congressional Budget Office run the numbers to see how massive the amount of revenue this ban is costing the US postal service?  It seems that cigarette and smokeless tobacco smuggling terrorists only use the USPS:  they have never heard of UPS, FedEx, DHL, or even U-Haul.

Frankly, with the huge spike in missing (stolen)  packages, gift cards, and credit cards that began in June and still continues, I don't think I would trust the USPS with delivering my snus orders anymore even if the ban were repealed.  At a minimum, I would pay extra for their tracking number service but that might not deter all the thieves.

Judge Richard Arcara of the US District Court for the Western District of New York who has been presiding over the lawsuit against PACT by the Seneca Free Trade Association and the Seneca Smokeshop initially exempted Seneca Smokeshop from having to comply with that provision in PACT.  In his third ruling, he revoked that exemption since the plaintiffs failed to show that their business would suffer catastrophic consequences without postal delivery.

He did, however, agree that the enormous burden of complying with all the different State and Local tax codes had a good chance of successfully being proven as this case proceeded.  So far, his ruling only applies to the Seneca Smokeshop and the Seneca Free Trade Association.  Once the case is settled and most of PACT is overturned, the government can't simply overturn PACT for just the Seneca Nation.  New law suits will be filed immediately by all the tobacco retailers/e-tailers affected and PACT will be dismantled; if not in full, then in the most onerous provisions.  Judge Arcara's rulings on  RED EARTH LLC d/b/a SENECA SMOKESHOP and AARON J.PIERCE, and the SENECA FREE TRADE ASSOCIATION (Plaintiffs) v UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and ERIC H. HOLDER, JR., in his Official Capacity as Attorney General of the United States, are an absolute must-read for anyone fighting a repeal of the PACT Act.

FDA Zealots Steamroller Forward

FDA is really on a roll as we approach the nuclear winter of 2010.  It's time to ban e-cigarettes since they are either tobacco products or if that fails, drug delivery devices.  Lets not forget that in less that 2 months, anti-all-tobacco activist scientists were able to "prove" e-cigarettes / vapor cigarettes cause cancer and other horrible things and should be banned as well.  These are the same anti-all-tobacco zealots who determined with no testing at all that the PR campaign called  "second hand smoke" would also kill you and your children.

Matt Myers of CTFK actually said "The FDA should hold e-cigarettes to the same standards for safety and effectiveness as other drugs, including nicotine-replacement therapies."  For once, I am in complete agreement with Mr. Myers.  At my neighborhood Walmart, they have an entire isle open to the public (and the children) containing multiple brands and strengths of nicotine gum including their own house brands.  The only label I saw on one brand was an endorsement from the American Cancer Society.

Studies on Nicotine Gum prove them to be largely ineffective; our Smoker in Chief, President Obama, was forced onto nicotine gum during the last election campaign but admits that even to this day, he still smokes cigarettes too.  I doubt Mr. Obama picks up his cigarettes at his local convenience store.  He either has Secret Service "straw buyers" obtain them, buys them over the internet, or most likely, has them hand-delivered by the Big Tobacco maker of his brand of choice.

The so-called anti-smoking drug Chantix, despite being widely prescribed with anti-depressants since documented suicides and clinical depression has been documented in patients who never suffered from depression before, continues to get a free pass from FDA.  Big Pharma is even allowed to extensively market Chantix in television commercials.  The actors say they never thought they could quit smoking or even wanted to, but once pressured to take Chantix by their doctors, miraculously were able to stop cigarettes and never crave them again.  Then come the required warnings and side affects message.  You may stop smoking, but Chantix is much more likely to kill you in the first year of use than cigarettes ever could.

If FDA takes Myer's advise, I look forward to television and magazine ads for Swedish snus, e-cigs and vapor cigarettes, and doctors recommending both as safer alternatives than continuing to smoke cigarettes.

Menthol is back on the chopping block.  Since Congress had no problem discriminating against the 46MM smokers in America, FDA zealots will have no problem banning menthol which only affects a subset of the 46MM Americans already disregarded as expendable.  While I doubt a menthol ban will be enacted before the November elections, I have no doubt that it will be banned based on recent news and events.  Lorillard Tobacco, the bulk of whose revenue comes from menthol Newport Cigarettes has reacted as ineptly as always...by announcing they are going to make a non-menthol version of Newport.  Doesn't Lorillard understand that people who smoke Newport only do it for the menthol?  Altria and Reynolds for all practical purposes own the non-menthol cigarette market.

Despite profits in 2009, Wall Street has dropped Lorillard stock from a Buy to a Hold.  As we get closer to the menthol ban, it will be lowered again to a Sell.  Once menthol is banned, Lorillard will collapse with in 6 months of the effective date of the ban.  Cigarettes are the only product these Old Cigarette Guys know.  The blew the chance at taking over the US snus market when they simply never marketed Triumph Snus.  Triumph Snus was made for Lorillard under contract by Swedish Match.  It was Real Snus with American flavors.  I listed it as my "if all snus from Sweden were banned and I had to buy my snus at the 7-Eleven", I would have been buying Truimph.

Instead the C-level management at Lorillard having absolutely no insight into any product not a cigarette, read some statistics which showed American Smokeless Tobacco sales were rising while cigarette sales were falling.  Now Lorillard is working on releasing their own brand of American moist snuff.....as if that market wasn't already owned by others either.  Top management changes occurred but too late in my opinion.  I don't take any pleasure in any American company going out of business, taking their stockholders and employees down with them.  But if menthol goes, than so does Lorillard.

FDA is now making no secret that it fully intends to set up it's own Anti-All-Tobacco Propaganda Ministry.  The Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) is looking for an ad agency to support a public health campaign, according to a federal sources sought notification. The scope of work includes research, message development, measurement, mobile and social media, corporate and media outreach, and support for publication of journal articles.  Great, more unnecessary taxpayer dollars wasted as the US economy is sputtering, the unemployment average is still 9.5% and climbing, and President Obama continues to socialize as much of the private sector as possible.  Why should FDA even bother with Propaganda.  At the rate cigarette and tobacco taxes are increasing,  in this economic climate smokers won't even be able to afford them.....legitimately.  The Black Market will explode, tobacco tax revenue nationally like it did in New York City, and BATF will have to be hugely expanded thus increasing the deficit.  Maybe if we revoked the citizenship of all government bureaucrats and gave it to the illegal aliens driving the underground economy, America would be in better condition.

The following was supplied by the FDA and we reprint it "for the children":

This Week in CTP -- Updates from the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP)

• On Sunday, October 3, CTP will hold its first stakeholder discussion series session with state and local tobacco control/health officials in Atlanta, GA.  A meeting summary will be available in early November.
• FDA posted the Enforcement Action Plan for Promotion and Advertising Restrictions, which includes FDA’s plan to enforce the restrictions on promotion and advertising of menthol and other cigarettes to youth.
• The fifth and final live tobacco retailer compliance training session was held in Los Angeles, CA on September 29.  Get the materials and watch the archived webcasts.
• On September 27, the Menthol Report Subcommittee of CTP’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) received presentations and discussed the timelines and structure of the subcommittees required report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding the impact of use of menthol in cigarettes on the public health.

Enjoying my Real Snus but popping antacids at an alarming rate,

LARRY WATERS

Swedish Snus Ambassador to the United States
Reporting for SnusCENTRAL.org

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