V A PE NOT SM OK E
DI A M OND V A POR'S K EI TH FA I RM A N USI NG V A PE TO SA V E THE LI V ES OF M ORE THA N JUST SM OK ERS
BEWARE TOBACCO 21 DAVID GOERLITZ TAKES CHARGE
THE VAPING ADVOCATE QUOTE OF THE M ONTH
" Ou r
n ew r eview r ein f or ces t h e f in din g t h at vapin g is a f r act ion of t h e r isk of sm ok in g, at least 95% less h ar m f u l, an d of n egligible r isk t o byst an der s. Yet over h alf of sm ok er s f alsely believe t h at vapin g is as h ar m f u l as sm ok r in g or ju st don't k n ow." Pu blic Healt h En glan d, Febr u ar y 6t h 2018
BEWA RE TOBA CCO 21 '
BY SCHELL HA M M EL
Many of us have seen it, and know it is happening, but why is it important? Is it headed your way? How can we fight it and what are the repercussions if it passes? The message they are delivering is simple. Stop our youth from falling victim to tobacco and tobacco related illnesses and help America grow into a healthier future. Sounds good. I?m all for that, but when it attaches vapor products to it, it comes at a huge price to those who are already a victim of tobacco, and that is where the message gets lost. Anyone can dress up a pig and make it look cute, but we must see it in the environment in which it lives to see the mud. The mud in tobacco 21 is what is not being said or seen. There are many arguments you can use against this law, 18 is the legal age to vote, to fight and die for our country, to buy certain fire arms, to be responsible for bills, mortgages and to be tried as an adult. Why, then should we not expect these individuals to be able make basic health decisions on their own regarding tobacco products when they have the right, no, are required to sign on their own behalf regarding surgeries, minor or major, testing, etc regarding health? Very reasonable question, but it is not winning ? why? The advocates on the other side are arguing that many, if not most, of the 18 year olds in our country are still in the public school system. Their ability to influence those younger than them is very great. And they are not wrong. Do seniors in high school and their habits have a great impact on our freshmen and sophomores? Definitely. Given that, there are school policies in place that are supposed to address these issues. These 18 year olds have a greater impact on those younger than them in many regards; alcohol, sexual promiscuity a safety, study habits, partying, racing cars.. you name it. So, in my view, unless we put them in a bubble, they will come across many scenarios where they will be required to make some tough decisions about things that can affect their future, whether it be a few months or years. There was a young man who walked into our store with his mother at 18, for the sake of confidentiality, we will call him Jack. Jack had fallen victim to this very thing, peer pressure, bad crowd, horrible influences. He had just gotten out of rehab and was smoking cigarettes still. His mother wanted him to ?quit it all? in her words. Like many therapists and rehab specialists we had spoken to, the clinic advised his mother to leave that one alone for now. These individuals use tobacco as a crutch and taking that away could jeopardize his success. They did mention that vapor products would be a great alternative for him as opposed to tobacco, thus the reason they were there. I am happy to report that Jack is still sober to this day and a dear friend and advocate of our shop and of sobriety. This story is not special? .. it happens in stores all across the country. This is what will be lost along with the lesser grave of those, just teens being teens and curious, grabbing mom and dad?s cigarettes to try and making them an everyday affair eventually.
Lost with Tobacco 21. So, how do you fight it? If you cannot make an impact with the fiscal note attached (this is losing based on evidence that citizens are not complying with the law so it is proving to be significantly less, making these individuals criminals overnight), the adult rights and responsibilities argument.. then how can this be won? All states are different and this may have to change as the arguments change, but let?s begin here. Your goal: To carve vapor products out of the bill. Go see the representatives or senators that are assigned the first look at this bill, including the bill author, prior their first hearing. Find out where they are on the subject, what their reasoning is for keeping vapor products in and give them the reasoning as to why it should remain (in this article below) Find a few representatives or senators not in the committee to fight for you, in the event that the bill reaches the floor. There are many out there that would love to fight this, if only for the reason that 18 is the legal age of adulthood and on the basis of common right to choose. Use the information you received in your meetings and reach out to shops close to your capital building to appear and tell their story that directly opposes their reasoning. For example: In our state many of those on the committee were convinced there were few individuals in this age bracket that used vapor products as a means to an alternative to tobacco, they rather believed that these individuals were using vapor products due to a ?fad? We gathered those individuals that had a story that directly challenged that theory and they did a remarkable job presenting their heart felt true stories. This strategy impresses on the committee, that omitting vapor products from the bill is not just a good idea, it would make a significant negative impact on public health in their area. Don?t forget that data is important. Be prepared for their arguments (why not use Chantix, gum, patch) Be quick to be able to use data and numbers showing the success rate of vapor products vs Traditional NRT methods, showing the huge difference. Be prepared to show that nicotine in its pure form is not a carcinogen (you would be surprised at how many still believe this) Last but not least, this is very important. Win or lose, be sure to go back periodically and thank those individuals who helped or waited in the wings to help you. Basic kindness goes a LONG way. I look at it this way: If I were a politician and everyday people only came to visit me to ask me to do something, I would HAVE to become a little callused. I find it would probably become very easy to only help those who could help me. But if someone walked in my office and said, ?Hey, I just wanted to thank you again for being prepared to fight for us on the floor. I know it didn?t come to that thankfully but I just wanted to say thank you for being there in case. I don?t really have any bills out there right now but I wanted to see if there were anything you were up against that maybe I could help with. ? I believe I would take pause. I may not have the ability at ALL to help this man, but to genuinely offer help to them when they are usually only asked to help others, well, I believe this shows integrity and appreciation and still, while old school, goes a long way. Don?t forget that. Humans respond to kindness, even if it is hard to accept or give many times. I anticipate tobacco 21 to move through the states and localities rapidly this year. While it is a very tough fight, I believe it is an important one. If it makes an impact on the many Jack?s out there, then I believe the fight is worth it. We have a story to be heard, don?t let them go unnoticed. Never once have I heard anyone stand up and saying ?Using tobacco changed my life? otherwise, you can be sure that the tobacco companies would be using these stories. Don?t underestimate the power they hold.
LETTER TO THE COM M UNITY FROM DAVID GOERLITZ
I have spent 35 years or more in t he t obacco game in one way or anot her and t o be honest I am more confused now t han ever before wit h regard t o t he apat hy t o our nat ion?s number one cause of premat ure deat h and disease. Tobacco. Here?s why. We know t he long t erm effect s of smoking combust ible and yet it is st ill a legal product t hat is STILL accessible t o t eens illegally. Our legislat ors and lawmakers shrug it off as no big deal and under t he guise of giving a shit , covering t heir failures in t obacco cont rol, t hey find a scapegoat in Vaping t o just ify why t hey were inept , complicit , and culpable in t he aiding and abet t ing t he criminals in Big T and Big P and t heir ilk. Tobacco Cont rol was and is a FAILURE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS. People probably know some of my st ory and if not here goes. Having been t he W inst on Man from 1981 -1988 I wat ched a st rat egic planning of finding replacement smokers for t he 1200 people in t he U.S who die every day from a smoking caused illness and premat ure deat h. Do t he mat h. They need t o be rout inely replaced daily. 14 Billion Dollars annually were spent on advert ising and market ing direct ly t o t he ? young, t he poor, t he black and t he st upid?. (THAT IS W HAT THE TOBACCO COMPANY EXECUTIVE TOLD ME AND W HAT I TESTIFIED TO IN CONGRESS IN 1989 ). My job was t o make smoking look macho, t ough rugged, robust , and virile. It worked, as W inst on sales rose t o #2 in just a very few short years right aft er t he Marlboro brand . It was t hat simple and for my effort s I was paid 100K a year for 26 days work annually. In 1988, I quit smoking publicly, but not for t he reasons you might t hink. You would t hink t hat I was disgust ed by my act ions in helping addict t eens t o smoking, as most people are aware t hat over 90% of new smokers st art under 18 years of age. Typically, around 15 years of age. If adult s were t he t arget market , I would not feel quit e as guilt y. MY JOB WAS TO GET KIDS TO SMOKE. PERIOD. END OF STORY. I quit smoking in November 1988 aft er I wit nessed my brot her who was being t reat ed for t he Big Cancer t hat most smokers event ually wind up fearing aft er a lifet ime of inhaling 4760 different chemicals, gases, t oxins, poisons, and irrit ant s of which over 60 are carcinogenic. My own kids didn?t want me t o die like t heir Uncle Bobby, and t heir never ending, and unrelent ing badgering of ?daddy, please don?t smoke anymore, please quit ?, did finally
get me reach t hat W OW moment . Just as a sidenot e, I did event ually quit wit h several years of cheat ing t hat I?m sure my family as well as ot hers were aware of, but chose t o keep my failure and hypocrisy a secret . Pret t y sweet of t hem, but cert ainly quit e disappoint ing. Immediat ely, upon publicly quit t ing smoking, I became t he Golden Boy for t he Ant i-t obacco movement which was just get t ing int o full swing. Won?t bore you wit h t he det ails, but should ment ion it was quickly becoming a mult ibillion dollar indust ry wit h t he American Cancer Societ y, American Lung Assoc. ,American Heart Assoc., Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, American Legacy Foundat ion and a slew of ot her Body Part s People t hat could benefit from t he misery of ot hers. I do, t ruly believe t hat t he original int ent ion was t o be helpful, but like most non- profit s, greed generally begins t o out weigh fear. I spent t he next 18 years or so, t ravelling t he world t o help kids underst and why it wasn?t a good idea t o st art smoking and st ay away from it if at all possible. I reached almost 5 million kids, t eachers and parent s in schools and assemblies using humor t o engage t hem in my journey of hypocrisy, abuse of kids, and a definit e plan t o addict t hem t o t obacco and nicot ine . That ?s quit e a load of guilt t o carry for one guy. Get t ing it off my chest , was somewhat cat hart ic I must say. Things were going well I t he educat ion depart ment unt il t he indust ry t urned and I?m not t alking about Big Tobacco, I?m t alking about t he groups who were brought in t o help curb smoking, st op t arget ing and market ing t o KIDS. We all knew Big Tobacco was evil, but it was difficult t o believe t he Mult i-Billion Dollar caret akers under t he guise of Public Healt h could become as evil as t he Tobacco indust ry. I first st art ed t o hear about Elect ronic Cigaret t es in 2006 right when I reached t he height of my disgust of wit nessing t he alignment of t he Ant i-Smoking and Big Tobacco collaborat ion. I st opped being a pawn and a puppet for t he same people who were paying me t o go against t he t obacco indust ry while t hey were in back door meet ings, planning t he hist orical Mast er Set t lement Agreement of 1998 and 1999 wit h t he infusion of 246 Billion Dollars int o every st at e while At t orney Generals handed out ?St ay out of Jail free cards?. The Elect ronic Cigaret t e Indust ry had a unique and provocat ive concept in t hat
t his cessat ion device seemed t o work so much bet t er t han Big Pharmas useless cessat ion product s, was less cost ly, and you received great sat isfact ion wit h t he vapor t hat appeared harmless t o t he senses and t o people around you. W hat a fant ast ic gift for t he kid who st art ed smoking wit h encouragement from peers, market ing execut ives, models and role models respect ed globally. Finally, you didn?t have t o st ink anymore, you could find a harm reduct ion product t hat would enable you t o self monit or t he amount of nicot ine you want ed t o ingest while you at t empt ed t o wean yourself off and ideally quit vaping as well. Or so we t hought . Hhmmmm. Never has any product caught on so fast as elect ronic cigaret t es t hat quickly morphed int o t he phenomenon we current ly see in t he wonderful cult ure of Vaping. I have never wit nessed anyt hing like t his. A product invent ed and produced by consumers, for consumers, and shown t o have t remendous pot ent ial in enhancing t he qualit y of lives proport ionat e t o t he havoc t hat could be wreaked on societ y if we did not have t his miraculous alt ernat ive . W hat a wonderful opport unit y our Government , t he Ant i-t obacco and Healt h Communit y now has t o embrace, t o finally find somet hing t o help people LIVE LONGER and have a BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE. W hat Could Possibly Go W RONG ? Your government is t rying t o decimat e t he Vaping Indust ry along wit h many ot hers which will be named, when I see a bigger and bet t er Army being built t o fight t he parasit es t o keep Vaping available. In my humble opinion, t his MUST become a Public Relat ions War first and some funds need t o be brought fort h t o change Public Percept ion while At t empt ing t o change Public Policy. You can?t have one wit hout t he ot her. W it h Advocacy in t he Vaping Indust ry and t he amount of money spent on lobbying t he polit icians, who by t he way for t he most part are t he ones who got us int o t his t rain wreck in t he first place, is probably not going t o be t he best ret urn on t he invest ment t hat our Trade Associat ions and Consumer Groups, and Legislat ive Polit ical pundit s are fight ing for as of now. Jst Saying.
KEITH FAIRM AN BEATS THE ODDS By Pat r ick Rif f e
KEITH FAIRMAN HAS COME A LONG WAY When I came up with the idea to write stories every month profiling creators in the vaping industry I thought it would be a great opportunity to share the ?Quit Stories? of different people in the industry to help those not in the industry through their own journey to quit smoking and also to share a side of the industry that outsiders might not normally get to see. All of us have certain aspects that are similar. ?I got to the point where I knew I needed to quit. I tried X number of times. I hit a brick wall and needed something else.? Some of us had mountains to climb to make it happen. Keith Fairman of Diamond Vapor has the Mt. Everest of ?Quit Stories?. If you ask him, he will tell you, ?I was waiting to die.? What was your life before you discovered vaping like? ?Well, I'm from Providence, RI. I was a single child. Grew up with no father or father figure. My mom was on drugs and was a prostitute. I was raised by my grandmother. We were very poor. We had nothing.? That must have been tough. ?There were times we had to go eat at soup kitchens, my grandmother had to work to support us. Funny story, I used to get in a lot of fights because I always had cheap sneakers back then and now I'm known for my sneakers. I have 800 or more pairs. I promised myself as a kid if I made it through and became successful I would have good sneakers. My mom was a drug addict her whole life, I had to visit her in prison when I was a kid. When I was like 13 I started dabbling in stuff and hanging out with 16 and 18 year olds. I was a full blown addict by the time I hit 18. I continued my addiction and moved down to Florida with my grandmother. My mom was still in prison. When I got to Florida, my addiction took off. At 21 my grandmother passed away.? Your Grandmother must have been your main support system. That had to be a big hit.
?It was, after that my life spiraled out of control. I lived on the streets. I lived under a bridge. I had this little cat that lived with me. For 20 something years I let drugs ravage my life. I was locked up for my 23rd felony, I had been in prison a few times and one day when I was locked up this time I finally said to myself, ?This is enough, I don't want to do this anymore.? My cellmate, was in there and he was going away for a long time changed my life, he had been in then had gotten out, he was gone like 30 days and came back this time for 5 or 10 years. I asked him how it was possible that he was back. He said to me, ?Get used to it, your an addict. This is how life is for us.?. That night I went to bed and thought about it all night. The next day I went to court and they let me out, in their minds it was only temporary. They knew I would be back. They put me on probation and house arrest. That was March 24, 2009.? They thought you were just gonna come back? ?Yeah, but I had made up my mind. I started going to meetings, working on my steps, I started doing the right thing. I actually became an advocate for
the probation office. They would send me out, even to this day, to pre- release inmates in prisons and work camps. I speak to them about being reintroduced into society, how to stay clean, and do relapse prevention courses. I met a young woman in recovery. We started dating when we were new, even though it's suggested that you don't do that. We ended up getting married a few years later. When we got married I had a great job working in the moving industry, doing moving sales, but the more I started working the steps I realized how bad these companies were ripping off their clients and I couldn't really live with that any more. I was walking through the mall one day with some friends, and we picked up these cig- a- like vapes. We got them because in recovery the joke is that it's all about coffee and cigarettes. That's all the crutches you have when you are getting clean. Out of the 6 of us, I think 5 are smoke- free. After that I started getting into it more and doing my research. I moved up to egos and clearos in 2011. Like the good addict I am I started ordering all these flavors from different companies on the internet. One of he. Was this company out of Texas called Vape Dudes. We
bought tons of liquid from them. After a while I got myself a Provari. I started looking into mixing my own flavors. I was becoming obsessed with vaping.? So this is when you started Diamond Vapor? ?In November of 2011 I decided to quit my job which I was making a few thousand a week at and spent $1500 to start my juice company. I started mixing flavors and with people in recovery. They started coming to my house. I had started mixing in a spare bedroom in my house. It snowballed. They told their friends, who told their friends and then they told even more. Before I knew it there were lines out the door. I never really talked to my neighbors, but I had to go tell them to come over so I could show them what was going on so they wouldn?t worry that I was selling drugs out of the house. I knew it might not look too good, that?s for sure. My wife was very supportive, but she was a little bit disturbed that we had just gotten married and I quit my job where I was making great money. I walked away from the company I owned, gave it to my partner. It just felt spiritually right to me, with what we were doing to our customers. That?s how I started my journey in the vape industry, in November of 2011. In about four or five months, our growth was just out of control, so I opened up a little store. I went with a little $800 a month spot, I was scared to go bigger. We built Aisle 7 very fast. Nori?s Dream got us a lot of attention. We created it for a little girl that was the daughter of a friend of my wife, a single mother. She was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. So we decided to start selling this liquid to help pay for the medical bills. This shop out of Virginia was the first one to order my line. Jay Taylor of Voltage Vapin. They haven?t missed a week of ordering in all the years since. We took off from there. I started with myself working and now I am up to about 19 employees.? Diamond Vapor is built on a foundation of helping those with substance abuse problems overcome. ?Correct, the thing I knew when I first got clean was that it is nearly impossible to get a job. I mean good job. Because of our priors and our problems in the past. So, once I started hiring, I started hiring from the recovery community. The model that we showed, because a lot of times people go out and use a lot and you have to deal with that. Our model has shown to be very successful, and it?s
very simple. We are not staff, we are family. So, whenever they go to meetings, we pay them to go once a week. They go on Wednesdays, they stay on the clock. It?s imperative that they are working their steps, that they work with a sponsor. If they are not, then we will address that. If they continue not to, we will ask them to move on. So, South Florida is like the Capital of Recovery Treatment Centers and halfway houses. There are a lot of kids from all over the country that come here, they hear about me one way or another, they are either from New England where I am from, they contact me and say they are looking for work, they vape such and such. We bring them in and we give them a shot. Once we give them a shot a lot of these kids have no one, so around the holidays we suggest that they shouldn?t go home because they go home and hang out with their old friends. Bad habits might return. So we give them a shot and then on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas we host them at our house. My wife, myself and my family, we cook for them. There is always 16 to 18 people at our dinners. We do gift giving together. The hurricane that just passed through I had 14 people at my house that had nowhere to go. I could have left, but I couldn?t leave them behind. So we all stayed together.? Diamond doesn?t only do advocacy through it?s efforts with those in recovery, it also does it?s part advocating for the vaping industry. ?When we first started the industry was a lot smaller. I believe there were about 10 companies when we started our business. There wasn?t a lot of us out there. The difference was back then we had no clue. My sense is that a lot of us are people that never had businesses before. There are a lot of us that are in recovery and some of us need to be in recovery. What I started noticing is that people back in the day never talked about whether they were ripping off a candy line or Hershey?s or Reese?s cups. Myself, I never did it. I always liked to be creative, but back then no one ever talked about it. As time went on and FDA started stepping in and looking into this, I knew that the effort?s from them and states, taxation efforts and bans, someone needed to address it. I became a platinum member of FSFA. I also started to highly believe through dealing with other states that if I wanted to sell in their state I should probably join their state advo-
cacy group. I joined in a bunch of states and started donating to them. For a while I?ve been doing that. I go to the state capital when needed. Nick and Dolores Orlando, who run FSFA contacted me and asked me to go represent FSFA up in DC at a conference for VTA. It was a great event and I got to see how well organized FSFA is on a state level and VTA is on a national level. We were taken around and spoke to a lot of politicians. I was surprised that they always left me to the last when there was a group of us talking to them, but my story and speech is a lot different than the one that other businesses give. They talk about how many years they smoked and how vaping has changed that. It?s amazing and shouldn?t be discounted. But when I get up and speak, I say, I have 19 staff members that used to be in your judicial system, you had to house them, they?ve been in trouble their whole lives, but through my vaping business I have helped them in recovery and given them something better, and they aren?t in trouble any more. They are always amazed at that. I believe in advocacy, but I don?t believe in all these different groups. There are too many. The alphabet gangs are out there. There?s only one NRA. They protect the civil rights of their members amazingly. We have all these groups that dilute the purpose of what they are doing. When someone in the Senate has to hear from all these different groups representing the same people and saying mostly the same thing and the money is split all these ways I don?t think it works as effectively as it could if there was only one. I also believe that some of them are not in it for the right reasons. It?s like a business to some of these people. But, there are some that are just amazing.? Do You Feel The Industry Is Growing Up? ?There is way too much bickering in this industry. There is too much shit slinging. If we would just focus on the goal we would get much further. I have a lot of friends in the UK and vaping is much more acceptable over there. Without mentioning names, I went into a shop the other day, I do a lot of traveling and I like to hang out in shops. I was gagging on the way out of this shop. But while I was in there, the guy is there mixing with like ?Pulp Fiction? syringes with an AC unit right in the middle of the office filled with yellow water around it. I asked the guy if he had reg-
istered with the FDA and he said, ?Fuck them! If the FDA comes in here I?ll bounce them out on their head. If they ask me for GCCs I?m gonna ask them to go down to the supermarket for their GCCs.? I was blown away.? ?I threw out 750,000 boxes and the same amount in caps when GCC became the standard. We need standards, but AEMSA is not the right way to go. I?m all for GCC?s. Our liquid used to come with the flat black cap and we would include the ?mustard top?. We thought that was a grey area, you know it wasn?t connected to the bottle so it didn?t have to be GCC compliant, it was included in the box for the customer to use if they wanted. But after a while I started thinking about it. I have a little three year old girl, she means everything to me. I asked myself, ?How would I feel if something happened to her??. I decided to make a change. So I threw out all the boxes and caps. The new caps wouldn?t fit in the boxes. I just ate the cost and decided to do the right thing.? What are your thoughts on cartoon labels and copyright infringing branding?
?I get into this argument all the time with my friends. Copyright infringement and child appealing labels are something we can avoid. First off your creativity sucks if you have to use something like that to sell your product. You are giving them something to hold up against us. I can go up to the politicians and tell them how many people I have helped change their lives by getting them clean and giving them jobs, and they will just hold up one of these bottles and say, ?What about this??. There is nothing I can say to defend that and it erases any positivity I created with my story.? The industry is just handing the ?Save The Kids!? argument to our enemies. ?I don?t think that the politicians really care about it, but it gives them something to use to show the people that vote for them that they are doing something. ?Hey look I protected your kids, vote for me.? As long as they can say they are protecting the kids they will get money and votes.? On a personal level, what is the overarching impact that vaping has had on your life?
?Vaping has made drastic changes in my life. I was living under a bridge, waiting to die. I just didn?t have to guts to do it myself. I have a family now. My wife is pregnant again. I don?t want for anything. I truly believe in giving back though. I?ve been given so much. I?ve been given the gift of changing other people?s lives. On a basic level, I can breathe better. I can workout and run without losing my breath. I?ve been able to see people come into my shop two weeks clean and see them grow and three years later still be clean. See them get a car, pay rent, which is incredible considering where they came from. I?ve been able to give these kids hope when they had none. I?ve been able to use vaping to help me start other businesses, I started a lawn and tree service, we?ve had a halfway house in the past. We are looking forward to opening more shops this year too.?