The PACT Act Sucks!

Yes, it does. It will make my snus and snuff more expensive. It will cause me to pay more for shipping, not to mention having to meet the driver of the Big Brown Truck (BBT) to sign for the stuff and prove I’m over 18. (A blind man could see I’m way over 18)

The PACT act has and will cost friends of mine their jobs and businesses.  The PACT Act has endangered storage space in my freezer. This in turn has endangered my happiness since Mrs.Mick guards her freezer space jealously.

As bad as PACT is, in the final analysis it’s probably more bark than bite. I will still be able to get all my favorite snus. So will you.

The PACT Act

PACT stands for Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking. It really does nothing of the sort. It will increase black market cigarette trafficking.  Looking in my crystal ball I see numerous unintended consequences.  Not to worry; our Big Government will continue to pass more laws trying to fill the loopholes left by bad legislation.

Preventing illegal cigarettes is a noble goal.  A few more laws should take care of the problem. After all, it worked so well for a few other products; marijuana for example. It’s illegal to buy it online, send it by USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc..  Marijuana is illegal to possess, smoke or grow. How many people can you think of that have some in their pocket or home right now?

There is also some online debate whether PACT has any effect on companies, or shipping from outside the United States. We will have to wait and see how PACT is implemented by BATF.

There are worse things than PACT in our future. Things that do threaten to lessen our choices, by removing some snus; Swedish and Scandinavian,  from the American market.

Lawsuits by big American tobacco (Yes, I’m looking at you, Joe Camel) has already caused Swedish CAMEL Snus and the Lucky Strike family of snus to disappear. Relatively minor, but what’s next?

FDA has an Anti-Tobacco Agenda

The biggest threat to our smoke free way of life is FDA regulation of tobacco products by authority of The Tobacco Act; formerly known as Kennedy/Waxman.

Unlike our Swedish friends, the US FDA is not on our side or the side of reduced harm tobacco products. The American FDA has no interest in making sure that the ingredients in tobacco are as safe as the ingredients in our food as is Sweden with their snus.

The American FDA’s goal is to eliminate any tobacco product not controlled by Philip Morris or Big Pharmaceutical.

The Tobacco Act intentionally says the FDA cannot reduce nicotine levels to “0”. It says nothing about reducing them  to .01 mg per gram; again intentionally.

The FDA is already trying to ban flavored tobacco, E-Cigs, dissolvable tobacco products from Camel and Ariva/Stonewall. Strange though; it seems FDA has no problem approving nicotine gum or especially dissolvable nicotine products from Big Pharma. (Hint, these look much like Camel Orbs, in a better and less child safe container.)

Contrary to the opinion I’ve heard expressed, the FDA is not looking favorably at snus. They, like most Americans, see no difference between Swedish snus and American moist snuff. Don’t even get me started on what I believe they will say about real European style nasal snuff.

The FDA Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) which is in charge of tobacco policy is stuffed full with anti tobacco activists. Even Philip Morris complained, requesting FDA to remove four of the voting members for financial and other conflicts, including having served as paid experts for plaintiffs in litigation against tobacco companies.

The FDA turned Philip Morris down, saying that they thought in essence, the committee was fair and balanced.

To FDA and TPSAC, there are only two choices for consumers: quit tobacco and use, briefly, Big Pharma’s nicotine replacement products. In their minds nicotine is evil if it comes from the tobacco industry, but is a beneficial product when controlled by pharmaceutical companies.

The main difference I see between the two is price. 40 pieces of nicotine gum in my area runs about $30. 48 portions of snus at a tobacco store is about $10. I enjoy snus much more and I don’t get a craving for a cigarette using Swedish snus.

The main fight in our near future is with the FDA. Watch these people carefully.  They will lie to you. They will do everything we let them get away with to destroy our snus, our friends in the industry, tobacco farmers, and small businesses, plus in the process take more of the freedoms our forefathers gave us.

My personal message to the American FDA:  Keep your hands off my snus! Its right beside my guns and you can have them both when you pry them out of my cold dead hands!   

MICK HELLWIG

Armed and Snusing
Writing for SnusCENTRAL.org