August 2019 Newsletter

August 23, 2019

Good Afternoon!

I’m going to apologize in advance for the long newsletter but the MVA has quite a bit going on and quite a bit to cover. In this newsletter I’m going to cover MAACO events, vaping in the news/VTA response, VTA lawsuit and proactive MVA site visits.

First of all the MVA went down to Ocean City MD for MACO (Maryland Association of Counties) August 14^th-17^th. We started off At the Red Red Wine bar in O.C. with Compass Government relations reception. There was a lot of good food and drink and got to talk with Compass and a few other people of note. First off I met with Mayor Bernard(Jack) Young and talked to him about the MVA and what we are doing in hopes he uses us as a resource for any vaping questions or education. Mellissa Hendrix was also down at MACO she runs the Vape Loft in Edgewater MD and was able to meet with Stuart Pittman which is Anne Arundel’s County Executive. This was an important meeting because he represents her county which her business resides in. The more people we can get down to MACO the more we can meet face to face with the people that represent us and make those connections.

We also went to The Ropewalk which was hosted by Sen. J.B. Jennings. There was more food and drink and many was in attendance. We met with Sen. Jennings, Sen. Brian Feldman, Del. Keiffer Mitchell, Sen. Steve Hershey and Governor Larry Hogan. With each legislator we introduced ourselves as the MVA and what we are working towards. We are here to save lives using vaping and harm reduction and again asked them to please use us as a resource for education and information of anything vape related. We were well received well by these Delegates and Senators and they were glad to see the MVA out in the field. These connections are important to make for these are the same people the MVA will be doing shop visits with and visiting down in Annapolis. The more we get in front of these people the better relationships we can make and the more we will be able to work with them in understanding our industry and how we can work with them on legislation issues.

Compass Government Relations Team at Red Red Wine bar in Ocean City MD.

The second part to this newsletter is going to be our proactive shop visits. We have identified legislators that we need to work with to understand our industry better. We will be doing these shop visits probably in early October. Unfortunately, some of these shops that will be hosting the visits are not members of the MVA. This presents a two-fold opportunity: One to help them understand the MVA better and become members and how that shop is important in effecting the state of affairs in Maryland by developing relationships with their representatives. We hope that these visits will go a long way into strengthen the MVA and our influence in Annapolis. We will be contacting shop owners that we have identified that have shops in legislative districts that Compass has deemed important that we speak to. More information to come on this.

Currently in the news we have all read the stories about teen vaping and lung damage and epilepsy and many other bogus claims. These stories are deceiving the public and are harmful to our industry. The VTA has put out a warning about this which I will attach in this newsletter or email. Also the VTA has filed suit against the FDA and we need to all support this action. This lawsuit is important because it

outlines the FDA’s negligent action and/or inaction to properly put in the guidance and deadlines they way they should. The FDA’s ever-changing deadlines and standards are impossible for any company to comply with and very cost prohibitive to small business. I cannot begin to detail this lawsuit and I will not try to but you should definitely read it yourself. There is a lot of information that is good to know that addresses all the issues with the PMTA process. Press release of suit filed https://mailchi.mp/vaportechnology.org/press-release-vapor-technology-association-and-vapor-stockroom-file-lawsuit-against-fda?fbclid=IwAR3Duda4F_AeKniwkbCyC5HfvR5v5Zkw77dlchswyXwRyaRRXt0dE7DsF3k

I hope this newsletter finds you well and we will be scheduling another MVA meeting for either Late September or Early October, depending on availability.

Thank You for being members!

Matthew Milby VP MVA