Using Its Emergency Powers, Rest of the Story Issues Four-Month Temporary Ban on Further E-Cigarette Bans

Today, I am bypassing the usual rulemaking process and using my emergency powers to declare a public health emergency and accordingly, I am issuing a four-month, temporary ban on politicians enacting further electronic cigarette bans.The purpose of this public health emergency is to temporarily pause all knee-jerk reaction e-cigarette bans so that we can work with our vaping and cannabis market experts to identify what is actually making people sick and how to better regulate these products to protect the health of our residents without putting thousands of small business owners out of work, forcing thousands of ex-smokers to return to smoking, and creating a massive new or expanded black market for illicit THC and nicotine e-liquids.Why is This a Public Health Emergency?This is a public health emergency because starting today, ex-smokers in Massachusetts began a wholesale return back to smoking tobacco cigarettes as the stores carrying the electronic cigarettes which were keeping them away from smoking were boarded up and emptied of merchandise, causing tens of thousands of dollars of lost expenditures and putting hundreds of vape shops out of business. I have already heard many stories of ex-smokers who today lit up their first cigarette in months or years, thanks to the governor and the Public Health Council ' s ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes. In addition, I have already heard many stories of medical marijuana patients who are now turning to dangerous, unreg...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs