As a result of the intense burdens, the unpredictability of the process and the compressed timetable, we believe that almost all industry participants and products will exit the regulated market – this is a plausible possibility that FDA should examine. The likely effect is that some fraction of the 12 million vapers will revert to exclusive smoking thereby causing a detriment to public health, that a major unregulated black market will form, and that innovation in the lawful regulated marketplace will be severely curtailed, but will continue unabated outside the United States, notably in Canada, China, and Europe, and thus drive further development of a US black market.
Office of the Iowa Attorney General
Above is an excerpt from the most recent letter to Alex M. Azar, head of the FDA. Unlike many of the typical letters one sees sent to the FDA whining that the agency is too kind to vapers, this one’s got our back.
Iowa’s AG, Thomas Miller rightly calls out the regulations (which are going to come down on us all in less than a year) as something that will cripple the vaping industry as we know it.
Also, the very wise Miller notes that most of us aren’t curl up and die. We’d all end up resorting to the black market to keep on vaping rather than being law-abiding citizens and go back to smoking and dying like the government and prohibitionists apparently want to do.
I never really had much of an opinion about Iowa one way or the other, but in this case I think I can say I’m a fan now. At least of the state’s head lawman.
