Calling It QUITS

There is a new bipartisan bill in Congress now, called the Quell Underage Inhaling of Toxic Substances (QUITS) Act.  And to be honest, it is a mixed bag overall.  It would:

• Ban flavored e-cigarettes (i.e. vape products) and other flavored tobacco products, including menthol.
• Increase the federal cigarette tax from $1 per pack to $3 per pack.
• Create a tax on e-cigarettes equivalent to $3 per pack.
• Increase annual funding for the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health from $210 million to $500 million.

The first item on the list, the flavor ban as we have noted before, is too broad and largely due to the moral panic around vaping these days.  Throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater is likely counterproductive, and slopes are slipperier than they appear.  other items on the list are overall a good idea though.  At least all of these also apply to, and does not ignore, the real elephant in the room:  combustible cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products, which kill over 480,000+ Americans per year, while vaping has killed eight people so far in all of its history, and even then, mostly via black-market THC products rather than legitimate ones.  And while even one such death is one too many, compared to combustible cigarettes, that's essentially a mere rounding error in statistical terms.

Another strength is that it does not raise the age limit for tobacco or vaping products at the federal level.  And that, Twenty-One Debunked is happy about.

So what can be added to the bill to improve it, while also removing or narrowing the flavor ban?  Here are some of our ideas:

• Cap and reduce the maximum allowable nicotine content of vape products down to current European and Israeli levels. 
• In fact, while we're at it, cap and gradually phase down the maximum allowable nicotine content of combustible cigarettes down to a non-addictive level as well.
• Tax vape products in a manner that is directly proportional to nicotine content.
• Enforce better (targeting vendors) the current federal age limit of 18 for both vaping and combustible tobacco products.
• Restrict advertising of vape products, similar to how it is for combustible tobacco products.
• Actually REGULATE the vaping industry, and require quality control testing.
• Crack down on black-market and counterfeit vape products, and root out any bad actors in the legitimate market as well.
• Legalize and regulate cannabis at the federal level, and implement strict quality control standards as well for both cannabis as well as tobacco/nicotine products.
• Require ALL vape products, whether nicotine, THC, CBD, or otherwise, to transparently disclose all ingredients, and immediately ban the use of questionable additives believed to be linked to the outbreak of the mystery vaping illness.

Let's be adult about this, shall we?