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There is a big push to pass Michigan Senate Bill 649 going on right now and from what I’ve seen, it looks like it will pass. The bill has primarily been funded by Bloomberg, and a couple of so called “grass roots” anti vaping organizations who say their purpose is to prevent children from vaping, also funded by Bloomberg.
The bill, while not specifically mentioning pipe tobacco, clearly states “all flavored tobacco and tobacco products”. It will ban flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes. There is only one exception and that is for Hooka tobacco. I had an attorney that I know look at the bill and he said it would absolutely apply to pipe tobacco as written. The bill would also create a new department of government and a 51% tax on all vaping products and smokeless products.
For those of us in Michigan, I thought you might want to know if you don’t already. For those outside of Michigan, it may have already happened to you (Massachusetts, et al) or it may be coming your way.
The bill can be read here:
www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2023-2024/billintroduced/Senate/pdf/2023-SIB-0649.pdf
The persecution of smokers using the anti vaping excuse.
I would like to see a blood test from those who wrote / promote that, perhaps it would give surprising results.
”Land of the FREE and home of the BRAVE”, disintegrating into “a brave new world” before our very eyes… (sigh)
I am very sorry to see this, and, very sorry my home state of CA usually leads the way downhill. It is little consolation we missed the “honors” on this usurpation of individual liberty.
But Ted all the concern mommies will feel better since they're in uninterested in actually parenting their children.
Meanwhile in the hysteria we missed a huge opportunity for harm reduction. Doctors should be prescribing a vaping device to help people quit cigarettes.
I would say contact your Representative and ask for a tobacco pipe exclusion. You would be surprised how many people don't realize there are still pipe smokers. The fact that there is a hookah pipe exception is a open spot to just add loose tobacco for pipe smoking.
The hookah is clearly a [misunderstood] exception on potentially religious claims of use. I think the pipe should be as well, as it is often seen as a ceremonial ritual item?
I still fail to understand the hypocrisy of the breakneck pace of legalizing marijuana use while criminalizing tobacco use when they are arguably the same hazard to public health.
This is important though, for this reason: marijuana advocates didn’t give up their effort. They found medical staff who would cry benefit of marijuana and be silent about it being a carcinogen. They found experts who could scream public good and hide the mind/physical side effects of it. They claimed that it had no addictive qualities and was safe for children and professional athletes - even beneficial. In short, they fooled everyone and made the screaming so much noise, that people stopped hearing it as a bad thing.
I guess we need to do the same for pipe tobacco. It’s our own responsibility. I came to pipes for reasons of mental health. That would be my political cry. It’s arguably less hazardous than vaping, cigs and for sure marijuana.
Hookah smoking is actually condemned generally by the religion, it’s a cultural activity. The thing is, Michigan has the largest Arabic population in the world outside of the Middle East and they represent a large voting bloc, the politicians don’t want to lose that. Interestingly though, the politicians are publicly saying that since blacks are by far the largest consumers of menthol cigarettes, they are protecting the black community by banning them.
It doesn’t need Phillip Morris. It used social media and the internet which can influence a mind better than a thousand billboards or advertisements. What Twitter algorithms tell us to do… we do. That’s why marijuana is “good” and tobacco is “bad”.
I was talking about the "capitalistic-vampyire" vibe around tobacco because of Philip Morris and cigarette producers 😬
Well Twitter algorithms these days just encourage incel Nazis to hate women and minorities.
But public opinion is certainly shifted to at least neutral on weed. But ultimately I believe legalization is about potential profits and tax revenue.
Tobacco has suffered from predatory big tobacco cigarettes and uninformed hysteria. I haven't seen any valid medical research that indicates tobacco use without inhaling is harmful. And I also have seen no fact based information to clarify the risk factors associated with vaping vs smoking cigarettes.
Ultimately though alcohol is the huge hypocritic elephant in the room. It's certainly the most damaging and widely consumed drug in our society. We celebrate drunks and crucify vaping. Make it make sense.
The US subsidizes the sugar producers to the tune of $4 Billion per year. Through government food welfare programs, (SNAP, EBT, etc.) over $16 Billion per year is spent on sugary soda drinks. Harm reduction is clearly not the goal of the government.
In general we can measure the drug use damage considering who is affected by them. Most drugs affect only who use. Some of them affect the user and the family/friends surrounding. BUT alcohol affect the whole Society. People who never drunk can die of alcohol becsuse someone hit them while driving under effect. The social consequences are huge. We don't have heroin and not so much fentanyl here in Brazil so alcohol still the worst among all drugs.
We should do something.
We should do something.
Vote.
Also, post the name of every legislator that votes on the ban.
Email the governor for a veto until exemption to pipe tobaccos is included.
Raise a generation of people comfortable enough to decide on the course of their own lives versus handing it over to a nanny-state.
It would be interesting to see a coordinated PR effort for pipe smoking. Generally people seem to have a positive leaning attitude to pipe smokers. They think we're weird AF these days, but in a "good way". 😂 You could leverage Mark Twain, Einstein, Sherlock Holmes, Grandpa, et al. as positive icons of pipe smoking.
Pipes to me are synonymous with solid historical figures and my grandfather.
You may be on to something!
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