It’s an insult to blow smoke in someone’s face. That’s what Big Tobacco and its enablers in the Legislature are doing to Montanans right now, and we should all be offended.
Quick links to detailed datasheets for United States of America at gsthr.org
Smoking in United States of America
In the United States of America, smoking is allowed but tobacco products should follow some regulations. Under these regulations, health warnings on tobacco packaging including cigarettes are mandatory, the minimum legal age for their sales is 21 years, and there are no federal legal restrictions on smoking in public places. While tobacco advertising is regulated, not all forms of their advertising are banned. An excise tax of 32.16% with a total taxation rate of 37.36% is applied on cigarettes. Cigarettes can legally be sold with authorised documents. They may also be purchased through vending machines as well as through online channels. Importing cigarettes for trade is allowed with an appropriate import license. Despite these control measures, prevalence data show that smoking remains an important public health issue in the United States. There were 39.8 million current smokers in the country in 2024. This represents an overall adult smoking prevalence of 14.1%, with higher prevalence among men (17.1%) than among women (11.1%). In comparison, the overall current smoking prevalence was 12.3% in 2022. The adult daily smoking prevalence was recorded to be 10.01% in 2020. Smoking-related mortality also remains significant in the country. In 2021, smoking resulted in 360,370 deaths, including 216,986 male deaths and 143,383 female deaths. This shows that smoking accounted for 10.38% of all deaths in the United States in 2021, with a higher rate among men (11.9%) than among women (8.7%).
Read articles from United States of America
March 02, 2021 by reuters.com
U.S. FTC tells e-cigarette firms JUUL, NJOY, others to submit sales, ad data
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it has ordered five e-cigarette companies including JUUL Labs and NJOY to turn over sales and advertising data.
The regulatory agency said it sent orders to JUUL Labs, Inc; R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company; Fontem US, LLC; Logic Technology Development LLC; and NJOY, LLC seeking information from 2019 and 2020 including annual data on sales and giveaways of e-cigarettes and characteristics of their e-cigarette products such as flavors.
March 02, 2021 by wsj.com
Puff Bar Defies FDA Crackdown on Fruity E-Cigarettes by Ditching the Tobacco
Fancy a mango, watermelon or lemon-ice flavored vape? You are in luck. They are being sold online by Puff Bar, a brand that last year was ordered to take its e-cigarettes off the U.S. market.
The Food and Drug Administration told the e-cigarette maker to stop selling its fruity, disposable vaporizers, as part of a broader crackdown on underage vaping. The brand resumed sales on its website last month and introduced a change that may allow it to sidestep the FDA: Puff Bar says it is using nicotine that isn’t derived from tobacco.
March 01, 2021 by billingsgazette.com
Guest opinion: Blowing smoke in the face of local decision-making
House Bill 137, sponsored by vape shop owner Rep. Ron Marshall, would allow people to use electronic smoking devices such as e-cigarettes in nearly all public spaces in our state. Not only would this bill overturn policies in 11 Montana localities where e-cigarettes use is prohibited inside public places, it would also prevent Montana communities from implementing any future protections from tobacco.
March 01, 2021 by greenvilleonline.com
Opinion: Why SC communities must be able to regulate vaping products
The health of our children and our responsibility to protect it is a priority not just among pediatricians like ourselves, but also for our communities. Parents and neighbors deeply value the health of the next generation . Children and teens depend on adults to protect their health, and towns across South Carolina should have the authority to react to these needs with appropriate action. It's been a reliable cycle for decades. In fact, many of our nation's successful public health laws began at the local level. [...]
February 26, 2021 by cei.org
Biden Should Choose Science over Politics and Embrace Tobacco Harm Reduction
Will the new Biden administration choose science over politics? The commandment to “believe science” has become a rallying cry, one echoed by Joe Biden during his presidential campaign when he promised to “choose science over fiction.” If that is true, his new administration should embrace tobacco harm -reduction, a public health strategy that, instead of the abstinence-only-approach, seeks to reduce the death and disease caused by combustible cigarettes by allowing smokers access to lower-risk alternatives.
February 26, 2021 by vtdigger.org
Vermont considers banning flavored e-cigarettes and menthol
The Vermont Senate has revived legislation that would ban the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.
The ban was floated last year as a way to prevent youth usage of nicotine products, but the proposal was sidelined after the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, said in an interview this week that she’d like the Senate to pass the bill, S.24, “as quickly as possible.” She said use of nicotine products by young people has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.
February 25, 2021 by cnn.com
Children exposed to tobacco smoke could be at risk for high blood pressure
Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke have a greater chance of having high blood pressure, a new study has found.
Researchers found 6% of children who were exposed to tobacco smoke had high blood pressure compared to 4% in children who weren't exposed, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.
The study defined tobacco exposure as a child reporting smoking, living with a smoker or having serum cotinine levels, which measures recent exposure to nicotine, greater than 0.05 micrograms per liter.
February 24, 2021 by fox9.com
Survey: 1 in 5 Minnesota high school students use e-cigarettes
One in five Minnesota high school students are using e-cigarettes, according to a new survey from the state health department—a statistic public health officials say shows youth vaping remains a serious challenge for the state.
The 2020 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey also shows 70% of high school and middle school students who use e-cigarettes are reporting signs of nicotine dependence, according to a news release.
February 24, 2021 by thefreshtoast.com
It Just Got A Lot Harder To Ship Hemp And CBD Vapor Products
Recent changes (covered here) to the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (the “PACT Act”) by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Appropriations Act”), a COVID-19 relief bill signed into law on December 27, 2020, will bar the US Postal Service (USPS) from delivering hemp vapor products directly to consumers [...]
In the aftermath of the Appropriations Act, both UPS and FedEx have announced they will no longer ship vapor products for home delivery. [...] “UPS will not transport vaping products to, from, or within the United States due to the increased complexity to ship those products.” [...]
February 23, 2021 by nytimes.com
Marijuana Is Legal in New Jersey, but Sales Are Months Away
After years of false starts and failed attempts, Gov. Philip D. Murphy on Monday signed into law three bills that effectively permit and regulate the use of recreational marijuana in New Jersey, making it the most populous state in the Northeast to fully legalize the drug.
New Jersey is now one of 14 states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis for adults 21 and older, while also easing several penalties for underage possession and allowing for the creation of a regulated market that could provide a welcomed boost to the state’s economy as it recovers from the pandemic.