Read articles from United States of America

March 31, 2022 by houstonchronicle.com

Houston City Council on Wednesday unanimously outlawed vaping, but what does that mean for those Houstonians who choose to use electronic cigarettes? Houston currently bans tobacco smoking in enclosed public places and seating areas and within 25 feet of any building entrance. Smoking in covered bus stops and light rail stops also is prohibited. As of Wednesday, the smoking ban now includes electronic cigarettes.

March 30, 2022 by cannabisindustryjournal.com

With more and more states fully legalizing cannabis for medical and adult use, regulation has become a hot topic for the industry – and it won’t be going away anytime soon. The markets for virtually all cannabis uses (with the exception of industrial hemp, under the Farm Bill) have manifested at the state level without the benefit of federal oversight. One of the biggest consequences of state-based programs has been striking inconsistencies in assuring public safety through the establishment of testing requirements and the licensing of third-party, independent testing laboratories. Establishing legal cannabis programs on a state-by-state basis has been from the ground up. [...]

March 30, 2022 by themainewire.com

As a physician – one who has dedicated his career to treating lung diseases – it has become clear to me that asking a smoker to quit, gradually cut back, or instructing smokers on the use of more traditional nicotine-replacement therapies, like nicotine gum or patches, is not as simple or as effective as it sounds. Hence, the availability and acceptability of safer tobacco and nicotine products may be critical to successfully helping adult smokers move away from traditional cigarettes.

March 30, 2022 by acsh.org

Regulators and policymakers are on the warpath against vaping. Last fall, the FDA effectively banned millions of the most popular e-cigarette devices and nicotine liquids ex-smokers use in place of combustible tobacco. The agency's decision was poised to wipe out a major portion of the e-cigarette industry. So instead of going out of business, some vaping companies evaded the agency's decision by using synthetic nicotine in their products. The FDA at the time only had the authority to regulate products derived from tobacco, including nicotine.

March 29, 2022 by houstonchronicle.com

City Council on Wednesday will consider a proposal to bar the use of e-cigarettes and any kind of vaping in public spaces under Houston’s smoking ordinance.

The move would update the city’s rules for public smoking, which were written before electronic cigarettes existed, Health Department spokesman Porfirio Villarreal said Monday. Houston currently prohibits tobacco smoking in enclosed public places and seating areas, and within 25 feet of any building. Smoking in covered bus stops and light rail stops also is barred.

March 29, 2022 by bostonglobe.com

That’s how Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, describes new research that indicates teens are increasingly struggling with nicotine addiction, largely from vaping e-cigarettes. The research, published [...] in the Journal of the American Medical Association, finds much of the progress made in nearly two decades of getting kids to quit smoking may be backsliding as so many teens are trying — but failing — to quit vaping nicotine. “If anything, concerns about the level of addiction have been understated,” Myers said. “This demonstrates that kids trying to quit e-cigarettes are failing at levels we haven’t seen in years.”

March 28, 2022 by thehill.com

House Democrats are set to pass legislation this week to legalize marijuana at the federal level. 

The bill, authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and titled the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, would remove cannabis from the list of federal controlled substances and eliminate criminal penalties associated with the drug.

It would also impose a federal tax on marijuana sales to fund programs to help communities negatively impacted by the war on drugs. 

March 28, 2022 by reuters.com

Walmart Inc (WMT.N) is stopping cigarette sales in some U.S. stores after years of debate within the retail giant's management team about selling tobacco products, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The markets in which cigarettes are being removed from stores include California, Florida, Arkansas and New Mexico, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter and store visits.

The retailer has rolled out a design with more self-checkout registers and other items such as grab-and-go food or candy near the front of the stores in place of Marlboro, Newport and other tobacco products, according to the report.

March 25, 2022 by filtermag.org

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized several tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn devices produced by Logic, which is owned by Japan Tobacco International (JTI). The agency also denied other, flavored product applications from Logic, while indicating that menthol-flavored products remained under review.

It’s just the second time the FDA has authorized vapes.

The agency determined that a host of products from the Logic Power, Logic Pro, and Logic Vapeleaf brands were “appropriate for the protection of public health”—deemed more likely to help adult smokers reduce or cease their cigarette use than to introduce a new generation to nicotine.

March 25, 2022 by morningconsult.com

A quarter of adults who vape regularly picked up the habit during the pandemic, and many are smoking too, according to a new Morning Consult survey that comes as health regulators prepare to rein in e-cigarette manufacturers amid a surge in sales but a dip in tobacco use and vaping rates.

Policymakers have been playing cat-and-mouse with e-cigarette manufacturers for years. In 2020, following public outcry over a surge in youth vaping — and an outbreak of mysterious lung illnesses that were ultimately tied to vaping THC — the Food and Drug Administration stepped up its enforcement on vape makers. [...]