04/14/2020
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Dear E-cig Café’ Patrons
We are troubled as you are regarding the current stay at home guidelines issued by Governor Walz. We have requested several times to be given exemption to conduct curbside sales with no instore traffic and conduct transactions with no physical contact with the patron. Our first request was denied and we did not get a response to our second request. Additionally we submitted a request directly to the governor siting our safety precautions and as well the evidence-based research on e-cigarette use. We received no response and subsequently the governor’s office release modified guidelines that took measures to specifically target to***co, to***co products (e-ci******es are classified as to***co products) and CBD retailers in Paragraph 6. c, V to state that we are prohibited from conducting business.
These are facts regarding e-cigarette use
Two of the largest world respected research institutions are The Cochrane Research Group and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). Their collaborative research of all published evidence-based (evidence-based meaning they followed the strict protocols required to make reliable conclusions) research resulted in the statement of conclusions that
• Use of an e-cigarette in place of smoking represented a 95% reduction in the risks associated with smoking
• E-ci******es are effective in helping smokers quit smoking
• There is no evidence of heavy metal or harmful secondary chemicals in e-cigarette v***r to any appreciable or significant level.
Statistics from the MN Health Department headed by Jan Malcolm show that there are over 147,000 Minnesota adults over the age of 21 use an e-cigarette. So with the published evidence-based research showing the safety, health risk reduction and effectiveness for quitting smoking why would the state risk having tens of thousands of Minnesotans using and e-cigarette to replace smoking return to ci******es.
The answer may be that they are listening to the misinformation and disinformation generated by organizations like ClearWay MN. They continuously use youth va**ng to legitimize misinformation to mischaracterize the vast majority of e-cigarette retailers. They would have the public believe we are low lives that lure underage kids into the store using flavored e-cigarette products. They purposely disregard the fact that flavored ni****ne products have been around long before any upsurge in teen va**ng. They ignore that nationally 70% of adults prefer flavored ni****ne solutions to to***co flavors (In our store it is about 90%). The vast majority of e-cigarette retailers like us do not sell to underage customers. Additionally ClearWay MN does not acknowledge any of the evidence-based research regarding the reduction of health risks using an e-cigarette to replace smoking and that e-ci******es are effective in quitting smoking.
So what is the cost in MN related to smoking. The statistics from MN Department of Health headed by Jan Malcolm show:
• 6,000 Minnesotans die each year from smoking related illness
• Medical cost for each year in MN for the treatment of smoking related illness is $2.5 Billion
• The cost of lost productivity in MN due to smoking related illness is $1.5 Billion.
It is only speculation regarding what is driving the current intransient position by the governor not to allow limited-contact sales of e-cigarette products but just possibly it’s because Jan Malcolm, Head of the MN Department of Health and Governor Walz’s guiding expert is the Past Chairperson for ClearWay MN.
Please take the time to personally email the Governor and tell your story about quitting smoking with an e-cigarette and to allow curbside purchase so former smokers are not forced back to smoking ci******es especially during this high stress time.
Thank you,
E-cig Café’
