Animal farm 1984 hybrid edition. It's a brave new world...Welcome to 1984
Regards
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Animal farm 1984 hybrid edition. It's a brave new world...Welcome to 1984
It will be the low income group whom will have no alternative but to remain inhaling tobacco smoke because this caring government has made vaping so expensive and secrative it will be completely out of their reach.
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I don't see anything in these regs ...
This is the problem, though. In every country that has regulated vaping, there have been outcries that vaping has effectively been banned and that it's time for armed revolution. On Aug 8 2016, Heathen Billy was literally almost in tears as he announced the end of vaping in the US, invoked the spirit of the Founding Fathers and told viewers it was perhaps time to take up arms because "our freedom of speech has been denied". Two years later, he's still reviewing as he always did, has his own line of Dead Rabbit drippers out, and life is seemingly good for him. So why all the doom and gloom?
We saw the same thing in the EU with the TPD - people saying it was the end of vaping and the evil Brussels government had won. How was it the "end" of vaping? Because vapers now could only buy juice in 10ml bottles? So what? You buy three 10ml bottles and decant into a 30ml bottle. Sorted. Then there was the outcry over 2ml tanks. So you buy an atty with a 2ml tank fitted and you swap out for the spare 5ml glass provided in the kit. It takes thirty seconds. Really, was this the apocalypse that vapers were lamenting? It was a minor inconvenience, nothing more.
I don't see anything in these regs that removes or even impedes my right to vape. Speaking as a vaper rather than a vendor or manufacturer, my capsule summary of the proposed regs:
White labels: as a DIYer, I mix in bottles and plak a handwritten masking tape label on the bottle. A white printed label would be HE for me. So no problem there.
Sin taxes: as long as it's moderate, I don't mind. I don't want to pay R80 for flavours that used to cost R25. But I'll pay R30 no problem. Vapers are a wealthy demographic generally and a tiny minority. So we are an obvious target for taxation, the masses will be very enthusiastic about us being taxed rather than a VAT hike. I don't like it but to expect to escape taxation would be unrealistic.
No vaping in public: no problem. I rarely take my vape out with me. If I hung out all day in vape shops, it might bother me. But I don't. Do I even vape, bro? If I'm not hot-boxing my mom's Honda Civic, I guess not.
Flavour bans: this hasn't eventuated. But even if it did, it wouldn't affect me as a DIYer. They are not going to ban food flavourings. The food industry uses them.
Bans on testers: no problem. I don't expect Pick n Pay to let me try every brand of marmalade in store before choosing one, I wouldn't expect a vape shop to either. I've never tried a tester in a vape shop. Of course, I've never bought commercial juice either. So there's that.
No marketing: I've never bought a device because the vendor promoted it on their FB page or in-store. I go off reviews mainly, along with an assessment of the features I want/need most. As long as they still allow reviews, that is all the info I need. Seeing as I mostly order online, I'm rarely in vape shops anyway.
Nicotine regulation: depends on what they mean. If they only allow 36mg and only 100ml at a time, for eg, I'll live with that. As long as it's not a blanket prohibition, I'm not fussed. If they get silly and insist it can only be 10ml bottles, such that I have to buy 10 at a time and spend all of five minutes decanting into a 100ml dropper bottle, it will be a PITA. But it's not something I'm going to launch a revolution over.
As a manufacturer or vendor, I may feel differently. But I'm not. For me as a vaper, these regs are pretty tame. There is nothing in there that is an obstacle to my vaping.
Sure, the flavour compounds will remain available in principle, but what will be the effect of the Capellas and FlavorWests of the food additives industry being disincentivised to produce flavours in PG suspensions, as I assume they currently do?
Talking of employment, how many jobs will the vaping industry shed as a result of this legislation? How many jobs that would have been created in future will now never materialize?
This would be my approach to advocacy. Govt don't listen to petitions. The AWB can give them a petition with 100k signatures asking for apartheid to be reinstated. That doesn't mean govt will listen. They have received endless petitions asking for the DP to be reinstated, with lots of signatures. If it isn't in their policy mandate, they laugh it off. But talk jobs and export and you're talking their language. I am assured that the business case is a central pillar of industry advocacy and I hope it is. That doesn't, of itself, mean that govt will listen. Ron Johnson tried the "think of all the mom and pop stores you're putting out of business" approach in the US and the FDA brushed him off. So it's not guaranteed. But it is still the most effective approach imo.
We saw the same thing in the EU with the TPD - people saying it was the end of vaping and the evil Brussels government had won. How was it the "end" of vaping? Because vapers now could only buy juice in 10ml bottles? So what? You buy three 10ml bottles and decant into a 30ml bottle. Sorted. Then there was the outcry over 2ml tanks. So you buy an atty with a 2ml tank fitted and you swap out for the spare 5ml glass provided in the kit. It takes thirty seconds. Really, was this the apocalypse that vapers were lamenting? It was a minor inconvenience, nothing more.
Ah, but then the figures come in of how many jobs will be lost when the tobacco farmers start closing farms (or change crops to less labour intensive crops like maize or wheat). And then the debate of land comes in again and the whole thing gets sidetracked until we come back to it in a few years at the next tobacco conference.
Zimbabwe to be the next Jamaic? That will help build tourism like Amsterdam.Ye, BUT one tobacco country Zimbabwe, have a solution for this
https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimba...y-high-licence-fee-of-50-000-reports-20180430
as far as I understand it, the ban (or in some cases, regulation) of smoking in public spaces is to reduce or prevent non-smokers from being exposed to second-hand smoke and the accompanying health risks.
What really irritates me is the number of requests/ads for people to sign the petition. No harm in the petition per se, though I don't think it will have any effect. It's just irritating being asked time and again to sign. On Facebook many of the groups and vendors which I followed have posted, asking people to sign. I've now unfollowed all of these vendors (some of whom are our supporting vendors) and that to me is sad.
Cigarettes also face plain packaging, it's the next step in the global campaign against tobacco marketing. If I was a manufacturer, I wouldn't like it because it doesn't allow me to differentiate my brand. As a consumer, it doesn't bother me. I just got in a bunch of DIY concentrates from TFM and they all came with white TFM labels. I'm most distressed by this. I think next time I'll ask Erica to take a koki and draw some Bugs Bunny faces on the labels. The juice is sure to taste much better then.
That said, I can understand their point. If vaping is a life-saving technology, it doesn't need pretty labels. If I get life-saving pills from my doctor, I don't mind in the slightest that the pharmacist gives them to me in a plain white box or plastic bottle with just a pharmacy label stuck on it. I'm taking them to save my life, not to be a brand-conscious yuppie. However, a product that is visually unappealing to kids may serve to deter some of them from trying it. It's not going to solve smoking but making the product appearance as bland as possible is one small step among many to help deter people from starting. So it's probably worth a shot.