I’m with WF here. The government gets it. They get it very well. Because as their political lives press on over time, their pockets get greased from Big Tobacco and Big Pharma for protecting their interests. Big Tobacco gets it, because they’ve seen a dramatic decrease in cigarette sales. Big Pharma gets it, because they’ve seen a drastic decrease in medicine sales for tobacco-related illness and tobacco cessation medications.
This is what should worry the hell out of anyone. Government and industry would sooner see us all sick and die than to lose a dime of revenue or pocket grease.
Sad but true, Ive sat in on a few " meetings" with a former employer who catered to hospitals and this was stated. The only thing US government and BIG industries see when they look at the population is dollar signs in the short and skinny of it. The health and hospital industry has figured the percentage of what one human is worth per visit and they will try and get every damn dime of that percentage. why else charge $10 for a band-aid. Hence the reason I went back to the oilfields
@SthrnMixer, I agree with this, BUT, I have a question. Taxpayers are nothing but BATTERIES to fuel the Matrix right ?? I mean, all we are, are revenue streams for them, right ?
If we all (or a lot of us anyway), end up getting sick, dying, who pays the freight ?
You would think “they” have a vested interest in keeping us healthy and productive. The cynic in me believes they count on that most stubborn of all human instincts, the will to survive. And would it surprise me if somewhere there is a statistician who has observed that out of x number of people who get sick, y number of people will recover, and z number of people will return to productive life? Not at all. Nor would I be surprised to learn they count on z to continue adding to their pile of cash.
Population control is a real thing. I have read articles about population growth, and the fact that we are far worse off than people know when it comes to producing enough food, clean drinking water, etc for the earth’s population as it is, is pretty staggering. Smoking is great population control. So not only does the government have the smoking population forking over huge lumps of money in taxes, the fact that smoking kills off people left and right is a win-win for them.
I can foresee the government eventually passing our beloved hobby on to big corporation through bans and or regulation over time, to which they will figure out a way to make it a win-win for them as well. I fear for future generations with the present mentality of our society as it is today, and what is to come. The fact that we can even buy cigarettes with all the evidence proving how fucking terrible they are shows how fucked up our governing body has become.
I guess the reality is that hopefully future generations don’t smoke or vape. But I know we will survive either way. Even if we all have to learn to produce our own nicotine, flavors, devices, etc. I mean, it can be done. Adversity breeds innovation.
I said a long time ago that they want us dead (except for the ones who clean their toilets). As questioned above by @Rocky02852 “Who will pay the freight?”, I think it will be a fine balancing act like an investment portfolio.
What the fuck? I figured it would happen, but not this quickly. That is a completely blatant fucking slap in the face to the vaping industry. Here, lets turn vapers back into tobacco users and brag about how this is also safer than combustables. But lets still put the carcinogens and addictive substances in the tobacco.
After finding this thread, TY @SmokyBlue I googled PMTA /ENDS and found more than I bargained for. https://www.broughton-ns.com/zh/nicotine-services-us-pmta
Then I was lead to Blacknote (anyone vape their NET?) because they address PMTA and present 15% off (of expensive juice) if you take their survey. I was going to take it to help out the industry but then I got paranoid, lol. Wasn’t sure how to answer the question, If you can’t get your vape products anymore what would you do? a) make it at home, b) buy illegally through the black market. I wanted to answer yes to both to fuck em up but I couldn’t.
And for vapers who want a quicker read to understand what’s happening from our perspective, Vaping360 has this article. Take it or leave it for what it’s worth.
When I browsed Blacknote’s website and saw that their family’s tobacco business goes back to the 1700s I could only draw one conclusion. Tobacco ain’t goin’ nowhere. I have no idea if they grow their tobacco for big cigarette companies or bougie pipe and cigar aficionados. But they certainly are the first company (that I know of) selling e-liquid “legitimately”. How are they so “in like Flynn” when everyone else is struggling, aside from the costs of a PMTA? Could I be wrong about this?
As I was purchasing some more nic to horde, on the vendors website the same questionnaire popped up and I was “like hell yeah, ill take it” till that question popped up, at that point my conspiracy theorist brain kicked in and a touch of paranoia so I backed out and canceled my order.
Enter the Master Settlement Agreement from 1998…Wayne posted the following article on his site.Takes awhile to get through,but, the gist of it(as I understand it) is that Vaping has to be destroyed so that the States can continue to enjoy their yearly windfall of a percentage of Tobacco sales from the likes of Philip Morris,etc. The vaping industry is cutting into big tobacco’s sales and that cannot be allowed to stand. I’d also be willing to bet that our Representatives and Senator’s are receiving tobacco co. dollars in sufficient amounts to make them ‘see’ this issue correctly.
So if you and I thought the same thing then we’re not paranoid, we just don’t trust our government for legitimate reasons. Just the fact that they insist on categorizing ecigs as tobacco speaks plenty. It’s all tied into their ultimate plan to continue making profits and gain control over the vape industry and its customers. If I vape 0 nic how am I using a tobacco product? And what will they do with the synthetic nic controversy vs PMTA? It’s all a crock of shit.
More politely known as “a pile of poo”, the term “a crock of shit” derives from an ancient Roman custom that coincidentally took place in Roman times. It referred literally to a pot into which people would excrete if they were particularly bored by whichever freelance philosoper happened to be talking rubbish at the time. The Roman empire employed crock-monitors who were each assigned to a philosopher, and it was their job to monitor the pot (or crock). Should the crock become full, it would be presented to the philospher, who was obliged, by law, to announce that it bore a remarkable resembence to himself, thus proclaiming he was full of crap and was, in fact, talking a crock of shit.
Absolutely!! Their states are going broke because they used the MSA money to build roads and public benefits ETC… and not what the MSA money was intended for, tobacco related illnesses. Those politicians want to get reelected and make their cut of lobbyist money Hence take a close look at New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, California, Washington and where are the current bans at??? I trust a politician about as much as I can throw them. They messed up years ago and they see the vaping industry as the scape goat to get out of the mess they made. Our industry will go to big corporations and we will be taxed out of existence.
I had read somewhere that every state that has put some type of ban on flavors or on vaping in general are all states that have borrowed against their future expected MSA payments, but they payments are getting lower due to fewer people smoking…i cannot remember where i read it and i didnt vet it, but it certainly makes sense that it would be true…
