Nicole Erskine

Nicole Erskine 

I'm writing this column because our industry needs a voice. Politicians prioritize their agenda before the facts, and this damages our communities. The CDC caused mass hysteria about e-cigarettes when they said, “unknown lung disease related to vaping, stop using now could lead to death.” This is a very bold, frightening statement that has been in the news now for weeks. The CDC has labeled this a “Youth Vape Epidemic” when they even admitted during the House Oversight Committee Hearing that the majority, if not all, of the cases they are investigating came back involving THC products. The headlines should be saying “Youth Drug Epidemic.” THC is not nicotine. It’s not CBD, of which the Farm Bill regulates its content. It's marijuana. We need to be alarmed that the results of this “epidemic” reveal that our youths have easy access to synthetic street drugs that can cause all sorts of health effects, because we all know that street dealers, not dispensaries, are going to put profit before safety.

Vape businesses and other retailers (gas stations) have been regulated by age since August 2016, when e-cigs were deemed a tobacco product. Our industry retailers get inspected at random multiple times annually to ensure we are to code with age enforcement just like a liquor store or other adult establishments. Businesses not only protect youth from purchasing products, they help adults set up their device so they know how to properly use them. We need to focus on the core problem: our communities. Our youth is more active than ever and has access to everything at the click of a button through social media and apps. Marijuana can be smoked out of anything; this isn’t new. Drug dealers are taking advantage of the popularity of the vape industry and hiding THC in the pods and cartridges and selling them on the streets, because it's easy to disguise. Our government, law enforcement resources and the media need to focus the attention on the underground, these drug houses and the streets that are affecting our children. Schools need to sit down with the parents about drug use counseling and signs of drug use and truly help the youth. They are clearly addicted to drugs, not nicotine. They are just using the unit (battery) to heat up the liquid THC bought off the street.

Nationally “Banning the Flavors” is on the table. As the CSRA’s largest stakeholder I speak for the businesses and our customers. We are one of this city’s original vape companies starting in 2013 before vaping took off, operating in Aiken, North Augusta, Augusta and Martinez with 20 employees and 41,000 customers. “Banning the Flavors” puts us – as an employer, as a small business owner, as a business that has helped 41,000 people in just the CSRA alone reduce smoking or quit – out of business! 41,000 people the government is trying to send back to the pack because of a mislabeled “Youth Drug Epidemic.” If you know a smoker, friend or loved one, they have done everything to quit. E-cigs are in most cases the first thing that works and keeps working. Journalism is about facts. When it comes to smoking, one of the leading deaths in the U.S., don’t rush to push people back to it. E-cigs, like any electronic device, are very misjudged and if you don’t use one, they are very easily misunderstood.

Politicians capitalize on the misinformed. They know non-e-cig users don’t know what regulations vape shops already have on them or what age limits are already in place. During the House Oversight Committee Hearing, they tried to tell the public that no vape product had been approved by the FDA, therefore it shouldn’t be used. The general public listening in isn’t going to know that the FDA has already published its deadlines to vape manufacturers, May 2020, which all applications for products continuing to be sold will be submitted. This is a very lengthy and multimillion-dollar application per product SKU applying. The CDC is aware of this deadline as I’m sure the lawmakers on the panel are. This is old news. These deadlines were made during President Obama’s term and moved up early during President Trump’s term. But again, they went with more hysteria by saying no applications have been submitted to the FDA for review, knowing it’s not time to submit them yet. The original date before it was moved up just recently wasn’t supposed to be until 2021. Manufacturers are working around the clock to get their paperwork submitted to the FDA to stay in business.

A flavor ban not only would be unjust and unfair to our industry, it would put our company and thousands like it out of business, out of work and put adults back to the pack. Save the youth by confronting the real crisis: the drug crisis. This industry has already been through multiple regulations and many more are scheduled to follow. These hysterical headlines that have nothing to do with nicotine are already severely hurting local businesses. Let’s not send people back to smoking, a true factual cause of death, over myths and opinions and election season because that’s what these scare tactics are doing.


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