A couple months ago, a coworker handed me one to try and I was floored, I was like.....I could totally use this to STOP smoking nicotine cigarettes because it has that hand to mouth feel, same size as a cig, same feel, even has a filter that is a cig filter and it gives me that relaxed feeling that nicotine does. Until then, I didn't even know such things existed, the problem is that I contacted the company who makes Redwood Reserves and they don't have a list of retailers they sell to. I went to my local cannabis store thinking that they would have them, they did not, they didn't carry any CBD cigarette brands. I was told to try a normal smoke shop, I did that, they don't have them there either.
I really don't want to order online, does anyone know where in downtown or maybe near Beaverton transit center I can find these? I'd ask my coworker, but he actually found the pack on the ground. Thank you.

Hi all, wondering about how feasible is it to get cigarettes shipped into the country from a website like taxfreecigarettes or some other online retailer.
I smoke American Spirits only (100% tobacco no fillers) and as far as I know they're ONLY available in the US. I brought the allowed 400 (2 cartons) in with me but am dwindling my supply. Will Qatar allow this type of shipment? All I can find is regulations about traveling with them but not the mailing of them.
I am not ready to quit and don't want to change a brand because I cannot seem to find any product that is of this quality.
Alternatively, is anyone aware of some magical place in Qatar that happens to carry this brand? I'm assuming no and have asked around, but figured I'd ask here just in case. Otherwise I'm really hoping I can get some shipped. Thanks all!

I'll complain and all I get back is "but you work part time," "you have a very active job, that's good for you," and "everyone is in the same boat." I work part time because I'll deteriorate if I can't. I have chronic illness and chronic mental health issues. I would probably have to go inpatient it I worked full time (at this point in my life).
Like.... No. That's not true. Everyone most definitely is NOT in the same boat.
And this isn't necessarily about clothing retail but that's what I work in (you could probably apply these things to serving and stuff). I know there's stressors to every job but it's like there's neverending stressors with retail:
1) First and foremost, dealing with customers. I don't even have to go into this. 2) Cleaning up after said customers 3) Putting their shit away 3a) If they decided to act like their brain doesn't have wrinkles, they'll leave everything on the floor, unzipped, unbundled, and unbuttoned. I work with relatively expensive merchandise (except for sale items). 3b) CONSTANT pain. Back, arms, knees, neck, feet. No such thing as retail without both physical and mental pain. 4) Customers PUKING in fitting rooms and not telling us. 5) Parents putting chairs over the gigantic piss puddle their kid leaves in the fitting room. 6) Dog shit anywhere these fuck heads want their dog to shit 7) A fire in our planter because some other dimwitted piece of shit thought throwing a still burning cigarette into a plantar box with WOOD FUCKING CHIPS was a good idea. 8) Management not giving a shit about your life until you threaten them with your two weeks. 8a) Management not giving a shit about your life in general 9) Selling more in product than I'll make in my lifetime. If I made 0.5% commission, I would've made an extra $2,000 that year. $400,000+ to a company that pays me half a living wage. And in my circumstance, this retail store pays more than minimum. That almost makes it worse because I feel ashamed for complaining (even though I used to break my back at a different company for less money). 10. Not being allowed to sit unless on a mandated break. 11. Guilt trips from managers when you try to call out. 12. Managers not letting you go home sick. 13. Managers giving us impossible goals. 13a) These last two have been more geared toward upper management 14) Blackout dates where you can't take vacation. 15) Black Friday. Enough said.
What else about yalls jobs that people with "normal" jobs don't seem to realize makes it incredibly miserable?

I'm at my wit's end - it's killing my mental health and leaving me incredibly exhausted. Please help me understand if there's something I should be doing to fix things, or if I am clearly past the point of no return (or anywhere in between).
Some context: My (38M) wife (38F) and I have together since 2005. We met our first year in college and dated and lived together until we finally got married in 2015. Since then we've had two kids. We bought a house in 2020 just after our youngest was born. We had our ups and downs over the years, like any couple does, but things were rough since after our youngest and purchasing the house.
Though she would never seek outside help, I think we both recognized some element of post partem depression after our youngest daughter was born. This was mid-2020, just after Covid started. We were closing on a house and moved in a month later. Due to a mix of the new baby and Covid, she was away from work for around 7 months. During that time she struggled with breastfeeding and was depressed pretty often.
I took it upon myself to manage nearly everything in the household, hoping that would allow her to focus on just being a mom. Then later, when she returned to work, I continued so she could ease back into her work routine as well. I cook or provide nearly all our meals, I vacuum, wash/fold clothes, do all shopping for groceries and house supplies, wash the carpets, sweep, do home repairs, secure outside help when needed for pest control/plumbing/etc., take care of all the yard work, take out garbage, wash dishes, maintain the cars, pay almost all of our bills, handle our taxes, put up/take down holiday decorations, and generally clean up every day. I have been completely responsible for our girls' doctor, dental, and eye care (scheduling, bringing them to their appointments, urgent care, picking up and administering medicine - she doesn't know the name of their pediatrician or where any of the offices are), and almost entirely responsible for getting our oldest daughter to and from school. On top of this, I work from home in a mentally demanding job that involves me talking to people on the phone all day.
I don't want to downplay what my wife does do, so with as much transparency as possible: she works in a retail store in a sales position. She has a ~1hr commute to and from work. Until recently (I'll get to that in a moment) she typically would be gone for work from around noon to 10pm. She usually has 1-2 days off during the week. She sometimes takes our oldest to school (~1-2 days a week), makes breakfast 3-5 times a month, will sometimes start a load of clothes (when she needs something of hers washed), and puts gas in her car. She helped me pick up apples that fell off our apple tree last year, and she sometimes prunes her roses.
Things were going okay for a long time, but after she was back at work for about 6 months, she started regularly asking me to support her leaving her job. She makes about the same amount as I do and cutting that income would be detrimental to our family. She kept saying to trust that she would figure it out, but I held steady that if she could come up with a plan, or line up a new job, then I would support her leaving her current job. She never could/did do either, so I never would tell her to leave her job, as I felt it would just be enabling her. I fully recognize this soured things, but I just couldn't support her willingly cutting our household income in half with no game plan or significant savings to counterbalance it. This is the only major friction we've had in the last 3 years.
Intimacy-wise, things have been almost non-existent since our youngest was born. We were always regularly intimate during our relationship until 2015, when our oldest was born. After the doctor said she could resume intimacy then, I bought a box of condoms and let her know. I didn't push anything, but the mere act of buying condoms sent her into anger, like I was expecting her to become intimate again right away. I apologized and backed off. We didn't start being intimate again until 2 years later. After our youngest was born, in 2020, I never brought it up or initiated anything for a long time, because I was worried she would take it the wrong way and I wanted to give her time to heal. Within a few months, she no longer invited me to our bed and I slept on the couch most nights for over three years. After about 2 years, I started trying to initiate intimacy, but she showed no interest back. We were intimate for three nights in a row in 2022, but after the last time her responses grew colder and colder. There has been nothing since.
Instead I took solace in our time together, which has generally been happy and optimistic. We go on little trips together, go out to eat, sometimes go see a movie, and typically I would make dinner for her when she got home around 10pm so we could sit and eat together while watching TV or a movie.
I've continued handling everything listed above, thinking that once she was mentally and physically well enough to take on additional responsibilities, she would. Everything changed dramatically after October 2023 when she made friends with some girls from work.
It started with a Halloween event she went to, then has slowly developed into them consuming her life outside of work. Instead of coming home after work to spend time with me, she goes out with her friends. She usually comes home around 3-6am. She was never much of a drinker, never smoked cigarettes, and never smoked weed. With her friends, she now does all of these things - she started vaping, and she has explained that much of the time, she doesn't come home until late because she was drunk or high. She works 5 days a week, and does this 5 days a week. Often, on her days off, as I'm getting our kids to bed (I'm responsible for the nighttime routine 100% - brushing, bathing, pajamas, etc), she will leave to go be with her friends and again doesn't come home until 3-6am.
In the mornings, when she could be helping getting our oldest ready for school, or spending time with our youngest, she's sleeping in because of her late night and is completely checked out. Even after waking up, she just lays in bed and texts people until she has to get ready for work.
As this continued through November and into December, I was increasingly feeling really depressed and lonely. I cry a lot still, but it was really bad during those months. Finally in mid-December, on one of her days off work, I told her how I was feeling. She kept saying she didn't want to talk about it. This led to me sitting in my office, crying. She came into the room yelling at me and it devolved into her screaming at me while I cried. She said I was trying to take her away from her friends and that nothing would change. Our intimacy came up, as I told her the emotional distancing along with the lack of intimacy was making me feeling really alone and unwanted. This led to her telling me that she has no interest in being intimate with me ever again and that I need to get over it.
During last Christmas (usually her favorite holiday, something she gets really excited about) she didn't help with any decorating at all, didn't help me cook Christmas dinner, spent most of the time we were opening presents texting people on her phone, and otherwise slept through the day (she slept in the living room chair for about 5 hours) - all while I had family over. It was really embarrassing and upsetting to me.
Two of the friends she's closest to and spends most nights with are gay. One is bi and the other is a lesbian. I don't think she is physically cheating on me - if anything, I think she's become asexual, but that leaves the emotional bond, which she's almost completely transferred from me to them. She spends far more time with them than me outside of work, she confides in them and they in her. I want her to have friends, but I also don't really trust the motivations they have - I suspect one or both of them are romantically interested in her and are encouraging her to distance herself from me emotionally.
She's going on a hot air balloon ride with one of them in May - I wasn't part of that conversation at all, and it really bothers me, as in my mind it seems like something you would traditionally kind of thing you would do with a romantic partner. One evening, I told her it bothers me and that while I have no issues with her having friends or those friends being gay, it does leave me feeling like she's cheating on me. I told her that since they are romantically attracted to girls, I don't see it as any different than if she was spending all of this time with guys. I tried asking her if she would be comfortable with me spending such a significant amount of time with another woman and her response was something like "well, you don't have any friends, so it doesn't matter, but if she was just a friend it wouldn't bother me."
She stays with these girls overnight at hotels and goes on multi-day trips with them, while I am home taking care of our kids and maintaining our home. She doesn't ask to do these things, she just does them. None of her friends are in committed relationships and none have kids of their own or own a house, so she is the only one among them that has those kinds of familial responsibilities.
In January I started seriously considering divorce and started therapy to help my mental health.
Late January, her father passed away. She left the country to be with her family for a month and a half, and during that time I was happier and less anxious than I had been in years. This was eye-opening to me - no walking on egg shells trying to make sure she was happy, no cleaning up after her - just me, my job, and my kids.
A few weeks ago, we were getting ready to go out and she asked me why I was so 'mopey' - I told her I'm really lonely and really sad. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and said 'get over it'. Otherwise, when she IS home, she acts as if nothing is wrong. She hugs me and kisses me. She says 'I love you'. She talks about doing things as a family. It's really bizarre to me, as it almost seems like I'm married to two different people and it leaves me in a state of confusion and uncertainty, especially as I consider making a decision that will cause incredible upheaval for our kids.
I'll try and answer as much as I can in comments and be as transparent as I can, as there's a lot of nuance to all this. I honestly can't see a way this works out, but I'm wondering if there's something in all of this that I'm missing. What I see is a certain amount of family abandonment and emotional infidelity, and she doesn't seem to care. I feel more like an employee than a partner or husband. Is there any hope for us? Should I be trying to salvage this, and do you have any ideas how I can?
tl;dr - Wife plays the part of a single lady, while I work, manage our home, and take care of our kids. She has ended intimacy, distanced herself emotionally, and is not really a partner in any sense of the word. She spends more time with her bi and lesbian friends than she does with me and the kids. She has told me to get over how I feel. When she is home, she acts like a completely different person. Should I be trying harder to fix this, or are we past that point?

I'm at my wit's end - it's killing my mental health and leaving me incredibly exhausted. Please help me understand if there's something I should be doing to fix things, or if I am clearly past the point of no return (or anywhere in between).
Some context: My (38M) wife (38F) and I have together since 2005. We met our first year in college and dated and lived together until we finally got married in 2015. Since then we've had two kids. We bought a house in 2020 just after our youngest was born. We had our ups and downs over the years, like any couple does, but things were rough since after our youngest and purchasing the house.
Though she would never seek outside help, I think we both recognized some element of post partem depression after our youngest daughter was born. This was mid-2020, just after Covid started. We were closing on a house and moved in a month later. Due to a mix of the new baby and Covid, she was away from work for around 7 months. During that time she struggled with breastfeeding and was depressed pretty often.
I took it upon myself to manage nearly everything in the household, hoping that would allow her to focus on just being a mom. Then later, when she returned to work, I continued so she could ease back into her work routine as well. I cook or provide nearly all our meals, I vacuum, wash/fold clothes, do all shopping for groceries and house supplies, wash the carpets, sweep, do home repairs, secure outside help when needed for pest control/plumbing/etc., take care of all the yard work, take out garbage, wash dishes, maintain the cars, pay almost all of our bills, handle our taxes, put up/take down holiday decorations, and generally clean up every day. I have been completely responsible for our girls' doctor, dental, and eye care (scheduling, bringing them to their appointments, urgent care, picking up and administering medicine - she doesn't know the name of their pediatrician or where any of the offices are), and almost entirely responsible for getting our oldest daughter to and from school. On top of this, I work from home in a mentally demanding job that involves me talking to people on the phone all day.
I don't want to downplay what my wife does do, so with as much transparency as possible: she works in a retail store in a sales position. She has a ~1hr commute to and from work. Until recently (I'll get to that in a moment) she typically would be gone for work from around noon to 10pm. She usually has 1-2 days off during the week. She sometimes takes our oldest to school (~1-2 days a week), makes breakfast 3-5 times a month, will sometimes start a load of clothes (when she needs something of hers washed), and puts gas in her car. She helped me pick up apples that fell off our apple tree last year, and she sometimes prunes her roses.
Things were going okay for a long time, but after she was back at work for about 6 months, she started regularly asking me to support her leaving her job. She makes about the same amount as I do and cutting that income would be detrimental to our family. She kept saying to trust that she would figure it out, but I held steady that if she could come up with a plan, or line up a new job, then I would support her leaving her current job. She never could/did do either, so I never would tell her to leave her job, as I felt it would just be enabling her. I fully recognize this soured things, but I just couldn't support her willingly cutting our household income in half with no game plan or significant savings to counterbalance it. This is the only major friction we've had in the last 3 years.
Intimacy-wise, things have been almost non-existent since our youngest was born. We were always regularly intimate during our relationship until 2015, when our oldest was born. After the doctor said she could resume intimacy then, I bought a box of condoms and let her know. I didn't push anything, but the mere act of buying condoms sent her into anger, like I was expecting her to become intimate again right away. I apologized and backed off. We didn't start being intimate again until 2 years later. After our youngest was born, in 2020, I never brought it up or initiated anything for a long time, because I was worried she would take it the wrong way and I wanted to give her time to heal. Within a few months, she no longer invited me to our bed and I slept on the couch most nights for over three years. After about 2 years, I started trying to initiate intimacy, but she showed no interest back. We were intimate for three nights in a row in 2022, but after the last time her responses grew colder and colder. There has been nothing since.
Instead I took solace in our time together, which has generally been happy and optimistic. We go on little trips together, go out to eat, sometimes go see a movie, and typically I would make dinner for her when she got home around 10pm so we could sit and eat together while watching TV or a movie.
I've continued handling everything listed above, thinking that once she was mentally and physically well enough to take on additional responsibilities, she would. Everything changed dramatically after October 2023 when she made friends with some girls from work.
It started with a Halloween event she went to, then has slowly developed into them consuming her life outside of work. Instead of coming home after work to spend time with me, she goes out with her friends. She usually comes home around 3-6am. She was never much of a drinker, never smoked cigarettes, and never smoked weed. With her friends, she now does all of these things - she started vaping, and she has explained that much of the time, she doesn't come home until late because she was drunk or high. She works 5 days a week, and does this 5 days a week. Often, on her days off, as I'm getting our kids to bed (I'm responsible for the nighttime routine 100% - brushing, bathing, pajamas, etc), she will leave to go be with her friends and again doesn't come home until 3-6am.
In the mornings, when she could be helping getting our oldest ready for school, or spending time with our youngest, she's sleeping in because of her late night and is completely checked out. Even after waking up, she just lays in bed and texts people until she has to get ready for work.
As this continued through November and into December, I was increasingly feeling really depressed and lonely. I cry a lot still, but it was really bad during those months. Finally in mid-December, on one of her days off work, I told her how I was feeling. She kept saying she didn't want to talk about it. This led to me sitting in my office, crying. She came into the room yelling at me and it devolved into her screaming at me while I cried. She said I was trying to take her away from her friends and that nothing would change. Our intimacy came up, as I told her the emotional distancing along with the lack of intimacy was making me feeling really alone and unwanted. This led to her telling me that she has no interest in being intimate with me ever again and that I need to get over it.
During last Christmas (usually her favorite holiday, something she gets really excited about) she didn't help with any decorating at all, didn't help me cook Christmas dinner, spent most of the time we were opening presents texting people on her phone, and otherwise slept through the day (she slept in the living room chair for about 5 hours) - all while I had family over. It was really embarrassing and upsetting to me.
Two of the friends she's closest to and spends most nights with are gay. One is bi and the other is a lesbian. I don't think she is physically cheating on me - if anything, I think she's become asexual, but that leaves the emotional bond, which she's almost completely transferred from me to them. She spends far more time with them than me outside of work, she confides in them and they in her. I want her to have friends, but I also don't really trust the motivations they have - I suspect one or both of them are romantically interested in her and are encouraging her to distance herself from me emotionally.
She's going on a hot air balloon ride with one of them in May - I wasn't part of that conversation at all, and it really bothers me, as in my mind it seems like something you would traditionally kind of thing you would do with a romantic partner. One evening, I told her it bothers me and that while I have no issues with her having friends or those friends being gay, it does leave me feeling like she's cheating on me. I told her that since they are romantically attracted to girls, I don't see it as any different than if she was spending all of this time with guys. I tried asking her if she would be comfortable with me spending such a significant amount of time with another woman and her response was something like "well, you don't have any friends, so it doesn't matter, but if she was just a friend it wouldn't bother me."
She stays with these girls overnight at hotels and goes on multi-day trips with them, while I am home taking care of our kids and maintaining our home. She doesn't ask to do these things, she just does them. None of her friends are in committed relationships and none have kids of their own or own a house, so she is the only one among them that has those kinds of familial responsibilities.
In January I started seriously considering divorce and started therapy to help my mental health.
Late January, her father passed away. She left the country to be with her family for a month and a half, and during that time I was happier and less anxious than I had been in years. This was eye-opening to me - no walking on egg shells trying to make sure she was happy, no cleaning up after her - just me, my job, and my kids.
A few weeks ago, we were getting ready to go out and she asked me why I was so 'mopey' - I told her I'm really lonely and really sad. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and said 'get over it'. Otherwise, when she IS home, she acts as if nothing is wrong. She hugs me and kisses me. She says 'I love you'. She talks about doing things as a family. It's really bizarre to me, as it almost seems like I'm married to two different people and it leaves me in a state of confusion and uncertainty, especially as I consider making a decision that will cause incredible upheaval for our kids.
I'll try and answer as much as I can in comments and be as transparent as I can, as there's a lot of nuance to all this. I honestly can't see a way this works out, but I'm wondering if there's something in all of this that I'm missing. What I see is a certain amount of family abandonment and emotional infidelity, and she doesn't seem to care. I feel more like an employee than a partner or husband. Is there any hope for us? Should I be trying to salvage this, and do you have any ideas how I can?
tl;dr - Wife plays the part of a single lady, while I work, manage our home, and take care of our kids. She has ended intimacy, distanced herself emotionally, and is not really a partner in any sense of the word. She spends more time with her bi and lesbian friends than she does with me and the kids. She has told me to get over how I feel. When she is home, she acts like a completely different person. Should I be trying harder to fix this, or are we past that point?

I'm at my wit's end - it's killing my mental health and leaving me incredibly exhausted. Please help me understand if there's something I should be doing to fix things, or if I am clearly past the point of no return (or anywhere in between).
Some context: My (38M) wife (38F) and I have together since 2005. We met our first year in college and dated and lived together until we finally got married in 2015. Since then we've had two kids. We bought a house in 2020 just after our youngest was born. We had our ups and downs over the years, like any couple does, but things were rough since after our youngest and purchasing the house.
Though she would never seek outside help, I think we both recognized some element of post partem depression after our youngest daughter was born. This was mid-2020, just after Covid started. We were closing on a house and moved in a month later. Due to a mix of the new baby and Covid, she was away from work for around 7 months. During that time she struggled with breastfeeding and was depressed pretty often.
I took it upon myself to manage nearly everything in the household, hoping that would allow her to focus on just being a mom. Then later, when she returned to work, I continued so she could ease back into her work routine as well. I cook or provide nearly all our meals, I vacuum, wash/fold clothes, do all shopping for groceries and house supplies, wash the carpets, sweep, do home repairs, secure outside help when needed for pest control/plumbing/etc., take care of all the yard work, take out garbage, wash dishes, maintain the cars, pay almost all of our bills, handle our taxes, put up/take down holiday decorations, and generally clean up every day. I have been completely responsible for our girls' doctor, dental, and eye care (scheduling, bringing them to their appointments, urgent care, picking up and administering medicine - she doesn't know the name of their pediatrician or where any of the offices are), and almost entirely responsible for getting our oldest daughter to and from school. On top of this, I work from home in a mentally demanding job that involves me talking to people on the phone all day.
I don't want to downplay what my wife does do, so with as much transparency as possible: she works in a retail store in a sales position. She has a ~1hr commute to and from work. Until recently (I'll get to that in a moment) she typically would be gone for work from around noon to 10pm. She usually has 1-2 days off during the week. She sometimes takes our oldest to school (~1-2 days a week), makes breakfast 3-5 times a month, will sometimes start a load of clothes (when she needs something of hers washed), and puts gas in her car. She helped me pick up apples that fell off our apple tree last year, and she sometimes prunes her roses.
Things were going okay for a long time, but after she was back at work for about 6 months, she started regularly asking me to support her leaving her job. She makes about the same amount as I do and cutting that income would be detrimental to our family. She kept saying to trust that she would figure it out, but I held steady that if she could come up with a plan, or line up a new job, then I would support her leaving her current job. She never could/did do either, so I never would tell her to leave her job, as I felt it would just be enabling her. I fully recognize this soured things, but I just couldn't support her willingly cutting our household income in half with no game plan or significant savings to counterbalance it. This is the only major friction we've had in the last 3 years.
Intimacy-wise, things have been almost non-existent since our youngest was born. We were always regularly intimate during our relationship until 2015, when our oldest was born. After the doctor said she could resume intimacy then, I bought a box of condoms and let her know. I didn't push anything, but the mere act of buying condoms sent her into anger, like I was expecting her to become intimate again right away. I apologized and backed off. We didn't start being intimate again until 2 years later. After our youngest was born, in 2020, I never brought it up or initiated anything for a long time, because I was worried she would take it the wrong way and I wanted to give her time to heal. Within a few months, she no longer invited me to our bed and I slept on the couch most nights for over three years. After about 2 years, I started trying to initiate intimacy, but she showed no interest back. We were intimate for three nights in a row in 2022, but after the last time her responses grew colder and colder. There has been nothing since.
Instead I took solace in our time together, which has generally been happy and optimistic. We go on little trips together, go out to eat, sometimes go see a movie, and typically I would make dinner for her when she got home around 10pm so we could sit and eat together while watching TV or a movie.
I've continued handling everything listed above, thinking that once she was mentally and physically well enough to take on additional responsibilities, she would. Everything changed dramatically after October 2023 when she made friends with some girls from work.
It started with a Halloween event she went to, then has slowly developed into them consuming her life outside of work. Instead of coming home after work to spend time with me, she goes out with her friends. She usually comes home around 3-6am. She was never much of a drinker, never smoked cigarettes, and never smoked weed. With her friends, she now does all of these things - she started vaping, and she has explained that much of the time, she doesn't come home until late because she was drunk or high. She works 5 days a week, and does this 5 days a week. Often, on her days off, as I'm getting our kids to bed (I'm responsible for the nighttime routine 100% - brushing, bathing, pajamas, etc), she will leave to go be with her friends and again doesn't come home until 3-6am.
In the mornings, when she could be helping getting our oldest ready for school, or spending time with our youngest, she's sleeping in because of her late night and is completely checked out. Even after waking up, she just lays in bed and texts people until she has to get ready for work.
As this continued through November and into December, I was increasingly feeling really depressed and lonely. I cry a lot still, but it was really bad during those months. Finally in mid-December, on one of her days off work, I told her how I was feeling. She kept saying she didn't want to talk about it. This led to me sitting in my office, crying. She came into the room yelling at me and it devolved into her screaming at me while I cried. She said I was trying to take her away from her friends and that nothing would change. Our intimacy came up, as I told her the emotional distancing along with the lack of intimacy was making me feeling really alone and unwanted. This led to her telling me that she has no interest in being intimate with me ever again and that I need to get over it.
During last Christmas (usually her favorite holiday, something she gets really excited about) she didn't help with any decorating at all, didn't help me cook Christmas dinner, spent most of the time we were opening presents texting people on her phone, and otherwise slept through the day (she slept in the living room chair for about 5 hours) - all while I had family over. It was really embarrassing and upsetting to me.
Two of the friends she's closest to and spends most nights with are gay. One is bi and the other is a lesbian. I don't think she is physically cheating on me - if anything, I think she's become asexual, but that leaves the emotional bond, which she's almost completely transferred from me to them. She spends far more time with them than me outside of work, she confides in them and they in her. I want her to have friends, but I also don't really trust the motivations they have - I suspect one or both of them are romantically interested in her and are encouraging her to distance herself from me emotionally.
She's going on a hot air balloon ride with one of them in May - I wasn't part of that conversation at all, and it really bothers me, as in my mind it seems like something you would traditionally kind of thing you would do with a romantic partner. One evening, I told her it bothers me and that while I have no issues with her having friends or those friends being gay, it does leave me feeling like she's cheating on me. I told her that since they are romantically attracted to girls, I don't see it as any different than if she was spending all of this time with guys. I tried asking her if she would be comfortable with me spending such a significant amount of time with another woman and her response was something like "well, you don't have any friends, so it doesn't matter, but if she was just a friend it wouldn't bother me."
She stays with these girls overnight at hotels and goes on multi-day trips with them, while I am home taking care of our kids and maintaining our home. She doesn't ask to do these things, she just does them. None of her friends are in committed relationships and none have kids of their own or own a house, so she is the only one among them that has those kinds of familial responsibilities.
In January I started seriously considering divorce and started therapy to help my mental health.
Late January, her father passed away. She left the country to be with her family for a month and a half, and during that time I was happier and less anxious than I had been in years. This was eye-opening to me - no walking on egg shells trying to make sure she was happy, no cleaning up after her - just me, my job, and my kids.
A few weeks ago, we were getting ready to go out and she asked me why I was so 'mopey' - I told her I'm really lonely and really sad. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and said 'get over it'. Otherwise, when she IS home, she acts as if nothing is wrong. She hugs me and kisses me. She says 'I love you'. She talks about doing things as a family. It's really bizarre to me, as it almost seems like I'm married to two different people and it leaves me in a state of confusion and uncertainty, especially as I consider making a decision that will cause incredible upheaval for our kids.
I'll try and answer as much as I can in comments and be as transparent as I can, as there's a lot of nuance to all this. I honestly can't see a way this works out, but I'm wondering if there's something in all of this that I'm missing. What I see is a certain amount of family abandonment and emotional infidelity, and she doesn't seem to care. I feel more like an employee than a partner or husband. Is there any hope for us? Should I be trying to salvage this, and do you have any ideas how I can?
tl;dr - Wife plays the part of a single lady, while I work, manage our home, and take care of our kids. She has ended intimacy, distanced herself emotionally, and is not really a partner in any sense of the word. She spends more time with her bi and lesbian friends than she does with me and the kids. She has told me to get over how I feel. When she is home, she acts like a completely different person. Should I be trying harder to fix this, or are we past that point?

I got into a long term relationship right when everything changed. I asked my ex to become my girlfriend in march and in April everything closed. I was 22 at the time and worked with her at a retail job while in college. Working close all the time meant we’d hangout after too. Well we both picked up drinking. Cases of 24 angry orchards a day , a 24 pack of trulys or something harder like a liter of jagermeister. We’d hangout almost daily and get drunk. Now boom I’m 26 and can’t stop myself from drinking. I can quit for a month or two but I find myself buying one 40 ounce of beer or three tall cans then spiraling onto another one.
It’s gotten to the point where I’d hit the gym drunk, hangout with friends only after I had a buzz and still drink more with them. I would drink on my lunch break . I try and try to quit for good but it’s harder than I thought. I quit smoking both weed and cigarettes. Don’t crave those things as compared to alcohol.
I’ve made healthier choices. Surrounding myself with like minded people after my break up. Healthy diet, and consistently weightlifting. But somewhere along the way I’d find an excuse to drink again. Long day at work and I’m off tomorrow ? Getting drunk can’t hurt since I’m off tomorrow. Going out ? That’s a great excuse to drink. It’s taken over me and I miss the man I used to be. Once the itch is there I can’t scratch it till I’m buzzing. Any tips on how to stay strong ?

The Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Thursday that requires retailers to sell a pack of cigarettes for at least $15, which is likely the highest required price in the country.
The ordinance’s backers and city staff say it will encourage smokers to quit and will save money that would otherwise be spent treating smoking-related illnesses. Some members of the public have expressed concerns that the additional costs would be borne by working people addicted to tobacco and force community gathering spaces to close.
Other products like chewing tobacco, snuff and cigars are affected by the new ordinance, but tobacco vapes are not. Council members also banned the use of discounts or coupons for tobacco products.
The council also increased the penalty for businesses that violate the ordinance to $500 for a first violation, which would increase with each additional violation until the business’ license is revoked.
St. Paul in 2021 passed an ordinance that set a $10 minimum price on a pack of cigarettes.
Our full story: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/04/25/minneapolis-approves-law-raising-cigarette-price-to-at-least-15-per-pack

The city's tobacco crackdown allows existing limited "sampling" inside cigar lounge.

Minneapolis is on track to have the highest government-mandated minimum price for cigarettes in the nation after the city council Thursday unanimously approved a $15-per-pack floor, before taxes.
In addition, the changes approved Thursday, which also set minimum prices for cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco, ban all discounts or coupons on tobacco products.
That's no small thing; the highest retail prices in the city are already reaching $13.50, but coupons frequently allow smokers to pay far less — a targeted marketing maneuver that anti-smoking advocates say keeps adult smokers hooked and lowers the barrier for younger people to start.
Vaping, lozenges, gum and other ways to take nicotine without tobacco are unaffected — although a number of council members said they want to take on e-cigarettes in the future.
[...]
The changes to the city's tobacco regulations, which are expected to be signed by Mayor Jacob Frey, also accommodate — and crack down — on what city officials believe is the only so-called cigar lounge, which for years has allowed patrons to smoke indoors via a legal gray area under the state's clean indoor air laws.
Under the state law, tobacco retailers are allowed to let patrons "sample" their product. That's led to one well-known business —Anthony's Pipe & Cigar Lounge in Uptown — to allow people to sink back into chairs and spend hours socializing and smoking.
Council Member Aisha Chughtai, who represents Uptown, carved out a grandfather clause specifically tailored to Anthony's that will allow them to continue to let customers to light up.

Full article at the Star Tribune: https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-approves-15-minimum-for-cigarette-packs-highest-in-us/600361630/

Hi everyone. So I don't post much anywhere but thought I would do a little story time for you about two bad bosses/owners and them being so entitled that they could get away with this. Sorry if this doesn't belong here, I can post else where! This is a long read but I hope worth it. Apologies in advance for any bad spelling, grammar etc and hope you enjoy this read.
This happened around 9 years ago. This was my second ever job and had always worked in retail for a bit of extra cash while at college and uni. So I'm 18/19 years old (F), desperate for a job and dropped my CV into about every shop I could.
Now before continuing I should say, there should have been many red flags that I should have seen and recognised but didn't. Not really knowing the job sphere completely at that time due to my age, only having one job previously, also not know the area as well due to moving, but also how much I needed a job just for any cash I could get because I was a student and rent in uni accommodation is so high!
Anyway, I got a call later that day from one of the local shops. It was a fancy dress and party shop. I thought it would be a whimsical place to work and would be a lot of fun. I was very, very wrong. I was offered a walk around the shop, a very very breif interview and offered the role of a sale assistant pretty imminently.
This shop was owned and managed by 2 middle aged ladies. We will call them Karen and Kevanna. Kevanna was a lady whose brain was like two short planks (thick) and Karen well...was a Karen. Karen was of Columbian descent, and wouldn't take any bullcrap to put it lightly and would berrate people and often slip into her native language when heated. As a pair they seemed to balance off well at first but it went all very messy very very quickly.
Kevanna didn't seem to ever have a clue about what was going on, but was protective about the things she did know, and wouldn't often support with letting staff learn new things (specifically balloon arrangements????).
Karen was mean to staff, and didn't have any professional cander at all. She refused to pay people on time and their full wages, often knocking down pay for "longer lunches" when in fact we had the allotted lunch time and specifically for that shift. UK law means you are entitled to 30 minutes lunch per day if you're working a full time 37.5 hour week and if you work a 6 hour day you're allowed a 20 minute break.
Karen wasn't only a Karen to staff but also customers. She had spoken to people about not having their phones out in the store, saying it was rude, and taking thier polite and quiet phone calls (usually asking if something would be fun to wear for the party they were going to with friends) outside and never to return to the shop again. She would often spout subtle, but still racist, comments about those who would come in the shop about a specific community.
Now to give a bit of context about this specific community as well, especially if you're not from the UK, she was very racist to the traveller community. Travellers would frequent the shop as when dressing for occasions they, generally, wear a lot of neon/tutus/costume jewelry etc. (this is just based off of what they would buy when in the shop). We never had any issues or concerns when they were in the shop itself. All the staff, apart from Karen and Kevanna, we're always polite and kind to all customers and we're hard workers. We all were proud of ourselves for how we got along and never did we ever have an issue, it was only when the managers were involved we did.
Now this particular day, I was not working. I popped into the shop with some friends to get some actual party supply's for a house party we were throwing. The key holder (let's call them Sarah) was behind the cash desk. She helped me get some supplies that we needed from the boxes and Kevanna was also on shift that day. There was an upstairs to the shop and someone was usually up there too to keep an eye on things and Kevanna had popped down to say hello. We didn't need to venture upstairs (as this was where mainly the costumes were and we just needed some novelty supplies and fairy lights which were on the bottom floor). We weren't distracting in any way, Kevanna had gone back upstairs after a brief hello, and bought our supplies and went on our way.
It was my shift a few days later and Karen wanted to "have a word" with me. Those words are usually not good and are a cause for concern. I spoke to Karen who had said the day I went into the shop a whole £1000 had gone missing. She said that my friends and I were a distraction to Sarah and meant that someone had stolen the money. She did not accuse my friends but claimed that I was neglegent EVEN THOUGH I WASNT ON SHIFT. She actually accused the (insert racist version of the term traveller here with some other swear words). She said that she could put in a disciplinary action but won't on this occasion, and then next time I was in the shop I should be more considerate to staff. I was baffled, but said I was sorry and went on with my day. As the day went on I stewed on what was said, I'm not a confrontational person, and like to collect my thoughts about something before I respond and choose my words carefully. I waited until my next sheft to speak to Karen, words at the ready, but also noticing that Kevanna had nothing to say about the matter even though she was the one on shift.
As I went into for my shift Sarah was there. She swiftly slid into the break room where I was setting my belongings down to tell me what she had heard. She too was spoken to by Karen about the incident, placing blame on Sarah too. Sarah, braver than me, requested to see the CCTV footage of that day. WHY DIDNT I THINK ABOUT ASKING THAT! So Sarah had heard the same rant about travellers in the shop, that they had stolen money while I was chatting to Sarah. Sarah said that no other customers in the shop at that time, so how could it have been? Sarah watched the CCTV and caught Karen in an absolute lie!!! No thefts were made when my friends and I were in the shop.
Here is what really happened: Sarah went home for the day, Kevanna said she could handle closing up the shop by herself. Now this is important to note, there is a back fire exit door on the back wall, located next to a false wall that you cannot see through, so the fire exit door is not visible behind it, and behind that false wall is where we (well Kevanna) would go to sort the balloon decorations out. It's easy to notice it, it's a fire exit so has to be noticeable for customers and staff, but this gets locked on a night once the shop is closed. Staff usually used that door for cigarette breaks mostly but wasn't really used apart from that. Then there is the big front double door entry was at the front of the shop. So Kevanna was starting to close up the shop alone, had the office door open counting the money for the day from the till to put in the safe. A customer walks into the shop, Kevanna making only slight notice of them before walking out onto the shop floor, she didn't really interact with the customer but policy meant that if there was a customer in the shop, a member of staff needed to be in the shop floor. Kevanna used this time to face up the items rather than interacting. She made her way to the balloon desk (to the left of the fire exit, but there is the false wall so can't see onto that side). As she entered her way to the balloon desk, and towards the office you can see her look confused and the man exits the store via the fire exit. Turns out the man, while Kevanna was facing up, had stolen the cash from the open safe and walked out the fire exit door!
Sarah said Karen had apologised to her, and that she needed to apologise to me. As Karen came to speak to me, she handed me a £10 Starbucks voucher (I love coffee but Starbucks wasn't somewhere I would frequent). She never really said sorry for what happened, just explained that there was "further investigation" and that it wasn't my fault. (Notice how Kevanna was quiet about the whole matter)
Simply put, I was f***ing fumin! I held my rage down, took the Starbucks card, said nothing and carried on with my shift. After work I wrote my resignation, with the Starbucks voucher enclose, and in the note told them how undervalued, unappreciative and disgusted I was in the managers for trying to pass on the blame to staff, that they were unaccountable for the actions and that was my last shift. I wish I had put "please see the Starbucks voucher and shove it up your arse" but just said I couldn't accept the voucher (or bribe I guess to shut me up).
Anyway, after that they sold the store to new owners in the next year or so and unsure if it's still open now as I don't live in that area anymore. When I last checked it went from a 2 star reviews store on Google with the old ownership, to a 4 star review with the new ownership...speaks for itself really. Feels like karma to me
After that I went to work at another shop, just as awful but that was a long time ago now and I currently love the role I'm in.

i'd like to purchase a pack of american spirit cigarettes, but i haven't been able to find them anywhere. i've been to some gas stations, kiosks, shops, and haven't seen them anywhere. could someone please recommend a specific retail chain or other locations where these cigarettes are sold?
thank you in advance!

Hi all, I manage a retail strip mall and one of the tenants has been smoking so much weed at night that it's stinking out the two units next to it. Everyone is pointing the finger at someone else. Does anyone know of a smart smoke alarm type of device that I can put in each unit, that'll know when it's detecting marijuana smoke vs vape smoke vs cigarette smoke vs incense? I can't think of another way to prove who it is. I don't live there so I can't camp out at night to try to catch them myself.

- April 23, 2024

Good:

• Outstanding performance in Q1 with double-digit growth in organic net revenue and operating income.
• Strong momentum in the smoke-free business, with 25% organic growth in net revenues and 38% growth in gross profit.
• IQOS continues to advance rapidly, with 13% growth in adjusted in-market sales volumes and 21% growth in shipments.
• ZYN also experienced considerable growth, with U.S. volumes up 80%.
• Operating income grew by 22.2% organically, driven by gross margin expansion and deceleration in SG&A growth.
• Strong organic OI margins expanded by 3.7 percentage points, and adjusted OI margins expanded by 90 basis points.
• Outperformed Q1 adjusted EPS outlook due to better volumes, pricing actions, and cost efficiencies.
• Delivered adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.50, representing 23.2% growth excluding currency impact.
• Strong volume growth of 3.6% supported organic top-line growth of 11.0%.
• Focus on sustainability and progress towards smoke-free alternatives.

Bad:

• Faced higher-than-expected currency headwinds in the quarter, primarily due to the devaluation of the Egyptian pound.
• Impact of cost increases in leaf, wages, and other inputs carried over from the previous year.
• Cost of implementation of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive had an impact on costs.
• Uncertainty around the normalization of Red Sea disruption and its impact on HTU shipments.
• Some Central European markets experienced slower growth due to economic pressures and price sensitivity.

Ugly:

• None.

Earnings Breakdown:

Financial Metrics:

• Double-digit growth in organic net revenue and operating income in Q1.
• Currency-neutral adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.50, representing 23.2% growth excluding currency impact.
• Outstanding shipment volume growth of 3.6%, supporting organic top-line growth of 11.0%.
• Operating income grew by 22.2% organically, with organic OI margins expanding by 3.7 percentage points.
• Gross profit for smoke-free products grew by 38% organically, with gross margins expanding by 600 basis points for smoke-free overall.
• Combustible organic gross profit growth of 2.3% and gross margins better than anticipated.
• SG&A costs grew by only 1.4% organically, driving 220 basis points of organic margin expansion.

Product Metrics:

• IQOS showed growth of 13% in adjusted in-market sales volumes and 21% in shipments.
• IQOS ILUMA is now available in 64 markets, representing nearly 100% of IQOS volumes outside Russia.
• ZYN saw considerable growth, with U.S. volumes up 80%.
• Adjusted IMS volume grew by 12.5%, including the expected impact from the characterizing flavor ban in Europe.
• Total smoke-free volume growth of 22%, with oral smoke-free product volumes up by 35.8%.
• Cigarette shipments declined by a modest 0.4% in Q1, with positive contribution from Turkey.
• IQOS became the second-largest nicotine "brand" in markets where IQOS is present.
• IQOS net revenues surpassed those of Marlboro.
• ZYN achieved category volume share of 74.3% and retail value share of 79.3% in the U.S.

Source: Decode Investing AI Assistant

B1665 - Smoking Elimination Bill - Final Division

A
BILL
TO
Create a statutory duty to eliminate most smoking by 2030, implement licensing for the sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products, regulate e-cigarettes and for connected purposes
BE IT ENACTED by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:--

Chapter I: Smoke Free by 2030

Section 1: Smoke Free Target

(1) It is the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that by 2030, less than 5% of the United Kingdom population are regular smokers. This shall be referred to as the “Smoke Free Target”.
(2) The Secretary of State must publish an annual smoking elimination plan, which must include:

(a) an action plan demonstrating the actions to be taken by the Secretary of State to achieve the Smoke Free Target, (b) measurable objectives to be achieved by the time of the publication of the next annual smoking elimination plan, (d) a summary of failures to achieve targets set out in all previous smoking elimination plans until such time as they have been achieved, alongside remedial measures to ensure ascertainment of the relevant target.

Section 2: Definitions

(1) For the purposes of this act, a regular smoker is a person who usually consumes at least one tobacco product per week
(2) For the purposes of this act, a tobacco product is a product primarily intended for the consumption of nicotine, including but not limited to:

(a) smoked tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars and hookah tobacco, (b) smokeless tobacco products such as dipping tobacco, chewing tobacco or snus, (c) heated tobacco products, or (d) any other product as designated by regulations by the Secretary of State.

(3) For the purposes of this act, a nicotine-containing product is any product given under subsection (3), or an electronic cigarette, or any other product as designated by regulations by the Secretary of State.

Chapter II: Introduction of Licensing of Sale

Section 3: Licensing Requirement for sale

(1) A person commits an offence if they—

(a) sell nicotine-containing products by retail without a licence, or
(b) sell nicotine-containing products by retail from premises other than premises in respect of which they have been granted a licence, unless that licence is granted for online sales.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine, or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine, or both.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person is considered to have sold a nicotine-containing product by retail if they provide the item for free.
(4) This Subsection shall come into force upon either the 1st of January 2025, or on a date appointed by regulation by the Secretary of State not later than the 1st of January 2027.

Section 4: Regulations Regarding Licensing

(1) A body known as the Tobacco Licensing Agency is to be formed.
(2) The Secretary of State must by regulations make provision about the granting of licences for the sale by retail of nicotine-containing products, and such regulations as the Secretary of State deems reasonably necessary for the orderly function of the Tobacco Licensing Agency.
(3) Regulations under subsection (2) must provide that—

(a) the licensing authority for the sale by retail of nicotine-containing products is the Tobacco Licensing Agency,

(b) the licensing authority may place conditions on persons to whom licences have been granted,
(c) no licence may be issued to or held by a person who has been convicted of an offence under section 7 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.
(d) licences will be issued on an individual basis for a specific address, or online point of sale, and subject to compliance inspection by the licensing authority.
(3) Regulations under subsection (2) must further ensure that the licensing authority may to such an extent compliant with other legislation regulate product standards with respect to products under their remit, including but not limited to:

(a) Restrictions of the marketing and advertising of tobacco products

(b) Requirements regarding health warning and information displays with respect to the sale of tobacco products

Section 5: Age Verification Conditions

(1) Regulations under section 4 must—

(a) require holders of a licence to operate an age verification policy, (b) enable the licensing authority to issue fines in respect of a failure to operate an age verification policy, (c) create criminal offences in respect of a failure to operate an age verification policy.

(2) The Secretary of State may publish guidance on matters relating to age verification policies, including guidance about—

(a) steps that should be taken to establish a customer's age, (b) documents that may be shown to the person selling a tobacco product or related goods as evidence of a customer's age, (c) training that should be undertaken by the person selling the tobacco product or related goods, (d) the form and content of notices that should be displayed in the premises, (e) the form and content of records that should be maintained in relation to an age verification policy.

(3) A person who carries on a business involving the retail sale of tobacco products must have regard to guidance published under subsection (2) when operating an age verification policy.

Chapter III: Regulations Regarding E-Cigarettes

Section 6: Extension of Plain Packaging to all “nicotine-containing products”

(1) Within the Plain Packaging Act 2016, the following amendments are to be made:-

(a) replace all instances of tobacco products with nicotine-containing products (b) replace Section 1 subsection c with: “c) Nicotine-containing products shall have the same meaning as that given in the Smoking Elimination Act 2023”.

Section 10: Ban of disposable e-cigarettes

(1) A person commits an offence if they sell disposable e-cigarettes (where intended for use as a nicotine-containing product) by retail.
(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine, or- (b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine, or both.

(3) For the purposes of this section, an e-cigarette shall be considered disposable if it is intended only for a single use, and lacks capacity either to be refilled or recharged by the user.
(4) This Subsection shall come into force upon either the 1st of January 2025, or on a date appointed by regulation by the Secretary of State not later than the 1st of January 2027.

Chapter IV: Implementation

Section 11: Commencement, Extent and Short Title

(1) This Act shall come into force one year after receiving Royal Assent.
(2) This Act shall extend to England only unless—

(a) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, in which case it shall also apply to Scotland, or (b) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Senedd Cymru, in which case it shall also apply to Wales, or (c) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly, in which case it shall also apply to Northern Ireland.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2024.
This bill was written by the Right Honourable Dame u/SpectacularSalad KG KP GCB OM GCMG GBE CT PC MP MLA FRS and the Right Honourable Sir u/weebru_m CT KT PC MP on behalf of His Majesty’s Government
Chapter 2 was largely sourced from the real life Sale of Tobacco (Licensing) Bill.
This Legislation amends the Plain Packaging Act 2016.
Opening Speech:
Deputy Speaker,
The house recently read the Advertisement of Vape Products (Regulation) Bill, one I was happy to welcome to this house and support at division. I believe that we in this house must do more to regulate vaping, and also to do what we can to eliminate smoking more generally.
Recalling also the Plain Packaging Bill read earlier this year (and subsequently withdrawn), I was spurred into action to propose the following legislation. I have sought to propose a package of world-leading, comprehensive measures.
Firstly, this bill will create a statutory duty for the Secretary of State to reduce the number of regular smokers to 5% of the population by 2030. In 2021 it was 13.3%, and below this threshold the UK will be considered “smoke free”. This 5% target is inspired by New Zealand’s health measures, but I must make clear that this bill does not go as far as a total ban for certain ages as seen in Aotearoa.
To support this goal, the bill will introduce two new licences. These are a licence on the sale of nicotine products (meaning tobacco products, and vapes), and a licence on the purchase of tobacco products specifically, but not vapes.
The nicotine-containing products licence will come into effect a year after passage of the bill, and this will require any business selling either tobacco or vapes to be licensed. This will also ban online sales of these products, making them only available in brick and mortar stores.
This effort is aimed at cracking down on the sale of tobacco and particularly vapes to young people, as the 25 years of age check will apply as a part of the terms of the licence itself. The NHS estimates that 9% of secondary school pupils either regularly or occasionally vape. This is 9% too many.
Eliminating online sale of tobacco or vaping products will close the online sales loophole, and by controlling which businesses are able to sell these products, we can implement better checks and controls to ensure that young people are unable to access them.
The second measure is the Tobacco Purchase Licence, which will come into for https://www.reddit.com/MHOC/comments/1bskb2u/b1665_smoking_elimination_bill_2nd_reading/ no earlier than the beginning of 2027. This is a licence to be required for an individual to buy tobacco containing products (but explicitly not vapes).
This will be a free, renewable, annual licence. Everyone who is 18 or older will be able to get one, but they will need an application signed by their GP, with the licences themselves issued by NHS bodies, who may issue guidance to the GP on how to support the individual in question.
The aim here is twofold, firstly to ensure that all active smokers have some interaction with the NHS relating to smoking, giving us a greater ability to support cessation. Individuals will retain the right to choose to smoke tobacco, but they will be unable to renew their licence to purchase without a GP’s awareness.
The second aim is simply to make smoking tobacco more hassle than vaping. We do not know how harmful vaping is, but the NHS’ own guidance is that vapes are far less harmful than cigarettes, exposing users to fewer toxins and at lower levels than smoking cigarettes. By creating a licence required to buy tobacco but not vaping, it is hoped that individuals will be nudged away from cigarettes and towards vaping as a substitute. Due to the nature of the licence, this will be a passive incentive built into the nicotine-products market.
And that brings me neatly onto the fourth key strand of this legislation, that is the extension of plain packaging and out-of-view laws to vapes, and banning disposable vapes. The first component is intended to crack down on bright packaging intended especially to appeal to young people. The second component is intended to tackle both the ease of access to addictive nicotine products, and also to reduce the environmental impact of vaping.
Overall, this represents a comprehensive package of measures that will fit well with the Government’s existing proposals. I hope they will see fit to provide cross-bench support for these measures, aimed at the substantive elimination of smoking in the UK.
Lords may vote either Content, Not Content or Present to the Bill.
This Division ends on the 25th of April at 10PM BST.

Throwaway account because my real one is a polar opposite of a lot of what I'm about to say. This will be long.
Tl;Dr I lost my grip on reality when I lost my family and the world in my head is the only place I can turn
TW: Mentions of self-harm
I'm not feeling very well, and I really don't know where to turn. I'm not "sick". I feel fine physically. But my brain is screaming at me. I'm in my late 30s, divorced due to an unfaithful ex-spouse, and I have 2 children I'm only allowed to speak to over video chat once a week because they live a thousand miles away, but are currently among the only 8 people I truly care about right now. My dad, my sibling and their spouse and children being the only others.
My mom passed away a few years ago. And I feel like a lot of my sanity went with her. She wasn't the most attentive mother; in fact I often had to try to wedge my way into being involved with her. But I loved my mother all the same. She was diagnosed with Multi-System Atrophy with Parkinson's, and I broke down hard anytime I saw her. I'm glad she hasn't had to suffer in the 6 years she's been gone and won't ever again, but god damn I miss her.
11 years ago I moved across the country with the person who later became my spouse. We had only been dating about 5 months at the time. I was completely out of my element. I knew nobody and had no money. I've lived in the city my whole life. The least city-like environment I've ever lived in is a suburb 20 minutes from a major one, and I moved to farm country with this person, where their nearest neighbors are half a mile down the road. But I stuck with them (or was stuck, depending on how you look at it) and tried to make the best out of what I didn't know would end up being a terrible situation.
We stayed together, got jobs and a place together, and things were okay for a couple years. We had our arguments, but there was really never anything seriously bad. One day my partner came home from their overnight hotel desk job and announced their manager fired them for no reason. I got them a job at the gas station I was working at and we eventually ended up moving in with a coworker. We smoked cigarettes at the time and one day my partner and I were about to go out to the front porch to smoke and they asked me to grab their pack from their coat pocket. In the pocket, next to the cigarettes, was a piece of paper with the letterhead of the hotel they had been "randomly" fired from. Upon further inspection this was an invoice, with their name listed with a set of dates matching our last 7-8 paychecks, stating they had paid x amount toward y amount.
I said nothing.
Fuck I'm stupid.
A couple months later my partner got fired from the job I got them at the gas station. They were working with another person and one of the regulars brought in a stack of scratch-off tickets they wanted to check for winners. There was one winner in the stack and the winnings did not go to the customer. My partner scanned the ticket and saw it was a $500 winner (the maximum amount that can be paid at a retailer without having to go to the state lottery office) but cleared the screen, put the winning ticket aside, and handed the rest of the stack back to the customer. Later in their shift, my partner cashed out the winning ticket to themselves and split it with the person they were on shift with. Next day, I get confirmation that my partner is being fired and I get shown the security footage.
I said nothing.
I'm so fucking stupid.
A couple more months went by. It's 2015 at this point. My life was revolving around my partner and attending to their every need, and trying to keep my few friends - who were also my roommates - happy. I paid very little attention to my own health. I had also found out about my mother's diagnosis at the time, but I lived across the country and had no idea how bad it truly was for her.
One morning, sitting on the porch smoking and about to get ready for work, I got stung on my shoulder by a wasp. I've been very allergic to bee and wasp venom since I was a kid, and while I should be smart and carry an EpiPen, we've established that I'm stupid, and besides those fuckers are expensive. My throat started to close. I crawled upstairs and woke my partner. I was met with anger. I tried to explain through heaving gasps that I had been stung and couldn't breathe. Luckily my inability to even speak was a clue that they needed to step into action. The nurses at the hospital told my partner if they had been any later getting me there I might have died. My blood pressure was 200/120, and by all accounts I should have been dead. Looking back I kind of wish I had been later getting there. I ended up staying there in the hospital just shy of 2 weeks, because the doctors and nurses wanted to bring my hypertension under control.
When I was finally released from the hospital, I was given a prescription for a steroid, and even though those aren't the types of steroids that typically cause "roid rage", they definitely did for me.
One night a few days after I was home from the hospital my partner and our roommates wanted to go and hang out at the 2-3 bars we had in that town. I'm not a night-life kind of person, and was on an oral steroid anyway so I didn't feel safe drinking, so I let them go out and have fun. 2 or 3 hours after they left they messaged me saying they were going to walk home, but the plan had been that I would come and pick them all up. I have no idea why but this threw me into a rage. I jumped in the car and sped over to the place they were last at and found them walking, and spent the whole ride home screaming at them, and then the same in the street when we got home. I don't know what I was screaming about, but I was. My partner told me to go inside and calm down. I was irritated, so I chugged 3 beers back to back. Great idea, right? The rest of the night became a blur and I honestly don't remember the rest.
Flash forward a couple more months. Partner and I had a miscarriage 8 weeks into the pregnancy. I was devastated.
Flash forward a few more months, early 2016, we find out about another pregnancy, and in December our first child was born. The whole 9 months raced by. I don't think I knew where my head was at any given time. I certainly don't remember what I did except be a responsible expectant parent. We got married April 20, 2016. My mom traveled to see me be married, and that was my first time seeing her in person since the diagnosis. It killed me. It would be a few months after the birth that I started to grow the seed of an idea in my head that maybe we should move back to be with my mom, because I decided I'd never forgive myself if something happened to her and I wasn't there. It would still be a while before such a trip could be affordable.
While saving up for the trip home, we found out about child number 2. I moved back home to be with my mom in May 2018. My mom died in September. My last words to her, the day before she died: "I love you, Mommy. I'll see you later", and put the last kiss on her forehead. Our second child was born on Halloween, so I didn't have much time to grieve.
While taking care of my spouse and our 2 children, working every job I can find, we were living with my dad because I was the only one working.
I'd come home from work (mostly worked overnights at the time), feed the kids and take care of them until my spouse got out of bed, which usually wasn't until almost noon. I'd then go to bed after my spouse had 2-3 morning cigarettes to wake up with, and then I'd get up around 7-8 pm, take care of chores around the house that my spouse couldn't get to while I was asleep, and then I'd eat and be to work by 11.
This cycle was broken when I was fired from the overnight job. I was unemployed for almost 3 months. If we weren't living with my dad we'd have been homeless. I tried day and night to send out applications and resumes to every job I could think of, with no luck. I snapped. My spouse came in the kitchen one night, to see me sitting on the floor sobbing, with a knife to my wrist. This was the first time I was sent to a mental health facility. I was there for a little over a week, during which time I was heavily monitored and diagnosed with a litany of different things ranging from Major Depressive Disorder to Persistent Anxiety Disorder and Complex PTSD and even BPD. 2 weeks after getting out of that one, ended up in another one, this time for almost 3 weeks. During this stay, during a phone call with my spouse (the one phone call I'm allowed per day), they announced to me they want a divorce.
When I came home from my second stay at a facility, my spouse decided that, rather than try to talk things out with me or make any attempt to address the thing that was said over the phone, that it's a better idea to yell at me for being unemployed and being off "enjoying myself" (I wish I were exaggerating, but those were their words) while they spent every waking hour with the kids and had to take care of everything. They then hopped in the car with a friend, saying they'd be back in an hour or so, but didn't come back for about 4 hours.
About a week later I ended up in yet another facility, for yet another attempt at my own life.
I was hearing voices in my head. I was having nightmares (I never dream, let alone have a nightmare). I was having severe bouts of depression and anxiety and mania and incoherent rage. It was as if the doctors and therapists and nurses just weren't listening, or they didn't care.
I started to talk to myself. And then I started to respond. And then I started assigning different people to the thoughts I was addressing. I created a world in my head, populated by people who were versions of people I know in real life. And this is where I stay now. Nobody hates me here.
After my third trip away, I got a new job and was still the only one working and supporting my spouse and children. My spouse started seeing other people. I paid for them to go home to their parents. They wouldn't go unless I let them take the kids. I said fine.
I ended up in another facility, but thankfully was able to keep my job after getting out. I slipped further into my world that I made in my head. They left me and I went to stay in that world full time.
My spouse came back a few months later to pick up the last of the things they and the kids left behind. While heading out to go back home, they handed me the diary I kept when I was in the second facility. The one I was in when I was first told they wanted a divorce. They said "look at the diary and see where you were then and look how much better you are now". I have never forgiven that statement. I should confess, I've never fallen out of love with my spouse. So to see all of the heartache and tears that I spilled onto those pages made me spiral.
Facility stay number 5.
Here it was, 2021 now. I had lost my mother, I had lost my spouse, and I had lost my children. My only comfort and solace is in the imaginary world that my thoughts built.
I tried dating. I had one partner for almost 2 years, though while I was with them, suffice to say there was a 6th stay in there. I broke up with them late last year, because I no longer feel physically attracted to anyone, nor do I feel attractive at all, and that was creating a rift because they were of the absurd opinion that the only way you can show someone you love them is to fuck them.
During the 6th mental health stay, I didn't even make it to a facility. Instead, when sitting in the ER waiting to be medically cleared, I was told I had covid. I was overwhelmed and overstimulated and I wanted to go home. They wouldn't let me leave. I should point out that in the time between stay #4 and stay #6 I was given an official diagnosis for high-functioning autism-spectrum disorder (colloquially known as Asperger's) as well as ADHD, and had a previous Complex PTSD diagnosis. Overstimulation is a terrible thing already, but then to be told I have covid and can't go home by my own free will made me panic. I started screaming at the nurses and before I knew it there was a group of people in the room telling me to calm down, which never gets met with a positive response when thrown out as an order to an autistic person in the middle of a panic attack. One of the people behind me, who I couldn't see, put their hand on my shoulder, and I jerked my shoulder away. The security guard that hobbled into the room with everyone else must have taken my shoulder jerk as a physical action, because he pulled his Taser and planted the barbs right into my bare chest. While I writhed and screamed and cried from the Taser barbs still pulsing over my heart, I was given a shot of something in my arm and it put me to sleep.
I got out of there just shy of 3 days later, when I was advised I could sign out against medical advice, a detail nobody had told me up to that point.
This all leads to me today. No interest in a relationship with another person because I feel worthless. No care for anyone outside of my own family. Always attacked and bullied and hurt by the outside world. And the only people who seem to understand me are the fictional versions of people I've created in my mind. They don't hate me. They don't hurt me. They love me. They uplift me. They don't judge me when I cry. They're cheering me on as I write this.
I know I'm not sane. I can't afford the therapy and treatment I know I so desperately need. I had another emotional breakdown a few weeks ago and I'm unemployed again. I'm scared shitless of going to a hospital again because of what happened last time. I don't have any real people to talk to, but even if I did, my worldview is so tainted by people who have only sought to hurt me and take advantage of me, that it would likely take years to be able to open up to them about any of this because I'll always feel like they just don't care. And if they don't care about me, why should I care about anyone?
Help me.

It’s day three of quitting smoking. Day one was a day off, day two was my work in retail, today I’m working at my office job. I smoked here more than anywhere else. I needed it as motivation, to have something to look forward to. I genuinely enjoyed most cigarettes I smoked here.
It’s only 10:30 am here and I would usually go for my second of the day around this time. Instead I just cried at the bathroom because I hate not smoking. I am bored and I can’t focus and I just miss the feeling of a cigarette.
I really don’t want to cave but this place is making it so hard.
Edit: I’m also PMSing, and during that time I can also get really depressed so that’s probably a factor as well. Just hoping this week goes by fast.
Edit 2: I genuinely really want to thanks everyone who replied and helped me through this, is helped massively.

*posted with approval from moderator*
Hi everyone, I'm a current doctoral student at Arizona State University. I'm currently collecting data for my dissertation research and am interested in young adult's attitudes/experiences with vaping as well as if/how they have talked to their parent(s) about vaping. I'm looking for 18-24 year olds who live in the United States to complete a 10-15 minute survey on this topic: https://asu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8f9jBb0P28KN8F0
Please note that you do NOT need to use e-cigarettes to participate. If you complete the survey, you will also have the option to enter to win one of ten $100 Amazon gift cards. I've provided more information regarding the research as well as my ResearchGate page (still a work in progress) below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
An extensive description of your research and why you are conducting it/chose this particular subject.
Over the past decade e-cigarette use, also known as vaping, has emerged as a growing health problem in the United States. E-cigarettes can take various forms, such as disposable units that allow a certain number of puffs, reusable units that work by inserting new cartridges, or tanks that can be filled with liquid vape chemicals. E-cigarettes work to provide an experience similar to tobacco smoking by using liquid mixes of nicotine and other chemicals that can be smoked and make a water-like vapor while providing similar effects for a user as traditional tobacco cigarettes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). In most areas of the U.S., e-cigarettes can be purchased for a comparable price to tobacco cigarettes at retailers such as gas stations, convenience stores, and smoke shops. Some of the most widely used brands of e-cigarettes include JUUL, Puff Bar, VUSE, and Elf Bar.
While traditional tobacco cigarette use has been declining, the use of e-cigarettes has continue to rise. In 2018 there was estimated to be 58 million e-cigarette users worldwide (Jerzynski et al., 2018). That same year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also noted that over eight million American adults used e-cigarettes, with one in four of those adults being former tobacco cigarette smokers (Villarroel et al., 2020). Perhaps most shocking are the rates of e-cigarette use among adolescents. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's annual National Youth Tobacco Survey (2022), in the past year, more than three million middle and high school-aged adolescents used e-cigarettes, with more than 25% using daily. College students and young adults aged 18-24 also make up a large portion of e-cigarette users. In general, young adults are more likely to initiate use of tobacco products (Perry et al., 2018) and in 2019, 14.3% of college students had reported using e-cigarettes within a thirty-day period.
When it comes to adult vaping use factors, men and non-Hispanic White adults make up the majority of users (Villarroel et al., 2020). Among adolescents, those who are disabled, live among the poverty level, or who speak only English are most likely to use e-cigarettes (Alcalá et al., 2016; Senders & Horner-Johnson, 2020). Adolescents and young adults are most affected by vaping, with rates of e-cigarette use among them growing exponentially between 2017 and 2019 (Schaeffer, 2019). However, many young adults do not understand the chemicals used in e-cigarettes or the range of health issues that can arise from use (McLeish et al., 2022). Because e-cigarettes contain nicotine, they can have physiological effects similar to cigarettes, such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. While e-cigarettes do not contain the same chemicals as traditional tobacco cigarettes, there are still several neurological, physiological, and behavioral risks associated with use including impaired blood-vessel function, increased risk for cardiovascular disease, harm to brain development, and addiction (National Institutes of Health, 2022; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2023).
When it comes to substance use, research has shown that parents play a large role in prevention outcomes of their children with regard to alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. However, parents tend to discuss e-cigarettes with their children less than other substances (Cohen et al., 2022). For many parents there is a lack of awareness about their children's e-cigarette use and for parents who are aware, they often do not understand the the extent or frequency of use (Keenan et al., 2022). There are many factors can draw youth and young adults to e-cigarette use, such as social media content, traditional advertising, curiosity, and social acceptability (Lee et al., 2017; Luzius et al., 2020; Sun et al., 2023; Struik et al., 2020). Many of these factors may be able to be moderated by parents, however, parent-child discussions have been shown to make one of the largest differences in youth substance use outcomes.
This research seeks to better understand how parents engage in e-cigarette prevention efforts and serve as anti/pro socialization agents regarding their offspring’s e-cigarette use. The primary aim of this research is to develop a new measure to assess the content and style of parent-child discussions about e-cigarette use. While measures have been developed to assess the content, valence, and style of these discussions in relation to traditional substances like alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana (Miller-Day & Kam, 2010; Shin et al., 2020), no measure has assessed these factors as they relate to e-cigarette use. Based on findings from the qualitative interview data, a scale has been developed guided by the drug talk styles outlined in the parent-offspring drug talk model: targeted-direct, targeted-indirect, ongoing-direct, ongoing-indirect (Miller-Day & Dodd, 2004). Previous scale development related to these drug talk styles will also inform the measure development and be used to run concurrent validity testing (Shin et al., 2020).
What is your hypothesis? Why is it important scientifically?

• RQ1: How do revised drug talk styles (proactive/reactive, direct/indirect) about e-cigarette use impact young adult’s personal anti e-cigarette use norms?
• RQ2: How do revised drug talk styles (proactive/reactive, direct/indirect) about e-cigarette use impact young adult’s perceptions about parental anti e-cigarette use norms?
• RQ3: How do revised drug talk styles (proactive/reactive, direct/indirect) about e-cigarette use impact young adult’s intentions to use e-cigarettes?
• RQ4: How do revised drug talk styles (proactive/reactive, direct/indirect) about e-cigarette use impact young adult’s e-cigarette use behaviors?
• RQ5: What types of revised drug talk styles (proactive/reactive, direct/indirect) do young adult’s experience most in parent-child conversations about e-cigarettes?

Since the development of the Parent-Offspring Drug Talk Model (Miller-Day & Dodd, 2004), there have been several studies that have aimed to extend understanding of the descriptive and predictive dimensions of parent-offspring drug talks (Pettigrew et al., 2018; Shin et al., 2020) However, much of the research on these drug talks focuses on alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco cigarette use. Less is known about how parents discuss e-cigarette use with their offspring. Because of their relative newness when compared with other substances, parents and young adults have less understanding of how e- cigarettes work, their ingredients, and the negative health outcomes that may be associated with their use (Cohen et al., 2022; Krishen et al., 2021). With this lack of knowledge, many young adults have weak perceptions of e-cigarettes’ harmfulness and addictiveness, which have been shown to predict e-cigarette initiation (Cooper et al., 2018).
Research has shown which elements of parent discussions work to reduce alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use. For example, parental skills such as nurturing, emotion regulation, and monitoring have been shown to be effective in reducing adolescent substance use, with programs like Preparing for the Drug Free Years (PDFY), Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT), and the Early Risers Skills for Success Program (ER) maintaining their effects between three to ten years after program completion (Cohen & Rice, 1995; Ladis et al., 2019). By better understanding parent’s current prevention practices related to e-cigarette use, we can examine how these practices may help or hinder substance use outcomes based on the current literature. Second, by understanding challenges related to parent’s discussions of e-cigarettes, health promotion practitioners can work to create parent-centered interventions to address these challenges and boost parent’s skills and confidence.
Additionally, scale development is crucial to furthering understanding of human communicative processes within the social sciences. E-cigarette use is a pressing health phenomena, especially among adolescents and young adults, making it important to be able to understand how parents engage in discussions about e-cigarette use with their children. Because these types of conversations are something that often take place in more private settings like the home, can occur spontaneously, or happen multiple times, it is difficult to observe the real interactions between parents and their children. Having a valid self-report measure for youth to share their experiences regarding these discussions can provide important insight to aid in the development of future health promotion materials such as anti-drug mass media, school-based interventions, or parent training programs.
Add a web page of your research/academic profile if possible.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julie-Martin-46

I’ve only worked one other retail job before this, it was at a dodgy corner store that made most of its cash from liquor sales, cigarettes and cheap imported knick-knacks for tourists. I lasted a week. But that job doesn’t even hold a candle to the circus I have to deal with here. Calling it a circus is revoltingly generous.
The Page had started and ended again. But now, filling the silence was pain.
Blinding pain and an intense, high pitch constant ringing. I couldn't remember when my eyes opened again, but I found myself laying on my side in a small and cold, slightly coagulated puddle of blood. I had been lying there, staring at the white tile that stretched for miles into the dark in one direction. The thing pretending to be my dad was nowhere to be seen, and though he didn't have the opportunity to blow my head off, the pounding migraine I now had sure felt it would finish the job. I peeled myself off the floor, and my eyes took their sweet time adjusting to the very differently lit place I found myself in. The ground was level again, and the shelves were their normally straight and stupidly tall shelves.
“Where am I?”
My voice was muffled like I was hearing my own voice through a wall. That’s not a good sign…
There was a thin trail of what I could only assume to be my blood leading back to a lone clothing rack full of ugly sweaters. I wanted to investigate, but something about having your eardrums popped like flesh-balloons really takes the curiosity out of you.
My head felt heavy, and my limbs hung from their joints like lead pipes as I tried to regain my bearings. By some random intervention of God or the devil or whatever forces at work in here that either decided to cut me a break or deliver me right to the doorstep of my untimely demise, I was standing right under the Garden and Live Goods sign.
The smell here was— the air was different. It was swampy. It was noticeably unique from the other areas I've visited. The pungent odor of decaying plant matter, wet soil, and humidity slapped me in the face like a swampy Louisiana morning. There were vines on the floor as thick as a man’s thigh, and I could have sworn they were moving and twitching slightly. Off in the distance I could see a pair of automatic sliding doors. Beyond them was a dark viridian shadow. I found myself reconsidering again if I really could live without my phone or not. I could just find a stack of clothes to sit under until my shift finished. It would be so easy. I could probably even fall asleep! How wonderful would it be if this were all just a really long, really real feeling nightmare brought on by some bad weed or old pizza…
I took a moment to follow that thought.
How weird would it be to set up a therapy appointment from a payphone? Is that a red flag? I feel like that would be kind of a red flag–
“Max! Buddy you made it! I knew you could do it!”
I turn to see Fred, armless and sprinting from out of nowhere towards me. He was wearing a sunhat and a bright blue polo with empty sleeves flopping in the wind.
“I was so worried your head had exploded already! Did you get my message from Janis?”
I slapped him so hard his head spun. Like, it literally spun. I almost spun it off his plastic neck.
“Are you fucking serious!? You left me to walk around aimlessly on my own in THIS place?! Give me my goddamn phone before I take your legs too!”
He was completely unfazed, his head continuing to spin as he spoke.
“Ok, I know you’re mad but… do you mind?”
I begrudgingly stopped his head from spinning and turned it to face me.
“I didn't know how else to get you motivated enough to come with me to Garden to use their phone. No offense, but you are kinda stubborn.”
“Fred.”
“Yes?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I could feel the throbbing in my head pulsing in my sinuses and teeth. Part of me wondered if it was a tension headache from how irritated I was or if it could have something to do with the ear nuke I’d just received. I looked back at Fred’s stupid smiling face and took a deep…deep breath. Max, don’t dismember your only lifeline. It's not worth it. I addressed him in the way one would talk to a dog that was too dumb to understand why it wasn’t okay to pee in the house.
“If you had told me the page was going to increase in volume to the point it could kill me, I would have gladly come with you.”
“Oh, for real?”
“Yes.”
“Aww, Maxy! I didn’t think you trusted me that much already! Hug?”
“No. Your opportunity for a hug left when you STOLE MY PHONE. I need that to punch out DIPSHIT! I literally CANNOT LEAVE WITHOUT IT!”
“Well there’s no need for name calling.”
I turned and started to head towards the doors. I kicked the vines out of the way as I walked. I was fed up, fuming, tired and just wanted whatever Little Shop of Horrors nonsense I would have to deal with next to be over. I could hear Fred trailing close behind me and continuing his chatter, but it was so much harder to hear him now. *I’ll definitely have to go to the doctor for this. God, the bill is gonna suck. Guess the twenty bucks an hour is worth something, as shitty as the situation is…*
“Max?”
I think I’ll order a bunch of food when I get home, with ice cream.
“Hey Maaax?”
Ice cream in my nice, warm bed…
“Max!!”
“What?!”
“Help–”
I spun towards the plastic pain in my ass and threw my hands in the air.
“WHAT! What the hell could you possibly need help withohMY GOD–”
The stupid vines had picked up Fred and were now pulling him apart, one of his legs coming free with a POP.
“Hey! Vines off the legs, pal! You haven't even offered me dinner yet!”
“What do I do?!”
“Well, if a scenario wherein you are being man— or in this case —mannequin-handled by a co-worker in a way you don’t like should arise, you should go to HR. ThetaMart can let a little bit of murder slide, but definitely not–”
Another POP and the last of Fred’s appendages were gone.
As much as I would like to say I leaped into action to save him, hacking and slashing the vines away, and got Fred’s legs back; I did not. In fact, I couldn’t even bring myself to feel all that bad. It was only a matter of time before the page sounded again and popped my head like a meaty Gusher. I’m pretty sure after that I wouldn't really need my ears anymore.
“I don’t have time for this.”
The vines lifted Fred higher into the air, him never stopping to take a breath as he began to beg and plead which was… surprising.
“Max! Max buddy, you gonna help me out?!”
“No, I’m going to answer the phone.”
Fred made a sound similar to a plastic clothing tag being taken off a shirt. I couldn't tell you how I know but it was the mannequin equivalent to a whine.
“Come on, man!”
“I’ll come back for you if I remember, though.”
“… Not cool dude, not cool.”
Just when I thought the plant for whatever reason had no interest in me, I felt a vine very quickly slink up my pant leg and climb much higher than I appreciated. Fred was right, this plant was a little too touchy.
I could only let out a squeak before it quickly yanked my leg out from underneath me. I fell forward, the full weight of my body falling on my chest. I could see something passing back and forth behind the doors which implied that one— it was big— and two— it was waiting for us. The vines, as though they noticed the shape when I did, began dragging us both toward the door. My face made hard contact with the tile and undoubtedly gave me a hell of a shiner on my cheek. I dug my nails into the ridges in the floor but to no avail, it only took about 10 seconds for us to clear the almost football field length between us and the doors to Garden & Live Goods.
The smell of swamp hit me with about the same force as the vines slingshotting me and Fred’s torso down the soil aisle. The air was hot and wet, water dripped from the shelves, and there was a noticeable fog that had settled on the floor. The place was a jungle, and if I hadn’t been tossed around or deafened I probably would’ve thought his place was pretty cool. Would’ve being the key word. Fred’s eyeballs began to dart around in their sockets, his head moving from left to right on the axis of his neck.
“Oh man, oh no—”
I laid on the floor for a minute just staring at the cascading vines for just a bit longer before they started pulling me to pieces too.
Fred was notably not as impressed. He wiggled and wobbled, trying to turn over on his side.
“This was not a good plan! Bad plan! We gotta get outta here—“
“Why are you scared? If that pager goes off again, I’m toast! Extra freakin’ crispy!”
“I’m not supposed to be here! I owe the garden manager big time!”
“Owe them what?”
If Fred had nails… or a mouth… or hands for that matter, he would’ve been biting them.
“I lost a game of Uno to them and still haven’t paid what I owe!”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
For the second time in less than 5 minutes, I peeled myself off the floor and took one last moment to admire the plants around me. They were so strange and bright. I had never seen plants like these. I wonder if anyone would notice if I took one of the small ones home.
“Max! Max, hold up!“
“Oh, before I forget…” I walk over to Fred, reached into his legless pants pocket and grabbed my phone. To my dismay, the idiot had cracked my screen. That made it all the easier to leave him there, armless, legless and yelling. Serves him right.
“Max! Max wait it’s not safe!! Maaax!!!”
Fred’s voice faded as I walked up and down the aisles trying to get some inclination on where in the department I was, but this place like the rest of the store, was absolutely gargantuan. The dense foliage consisted of trees as thick as Greek pillars, shrubbery with leaves as large as tables, and hypnotically-colored flowers, some of which spray you in the face. I made that mistake trying to pick a purple one that smelled like Listerine mouthwash. I coughed and hacked trying to clear my eyes. Whatever was in that flower juice left the world in… a beautiful pink hue.
A carpet of soft moss blanketed over most of the floor where only every few yards was the tile underneath visible. The stench of plant gunk gave way to a sweet smell that put me at ease.
It smells like roses…
It felt as though this place was welcoming me to sit. To sleep… to stay.
No, I have to answer that damn phone. I gotta stay focused. I can’t keep wasting time and walking around aimlessly. Maybe leaving Fred behind wasn't the best idea–
I managed to find a shelf-like structure buried beneath vines, moss, and branches. I took a deep breath and began scaling it as quickly as I could manage. I had to see where exactly I was and pray wherever or whatever the manager was, it didn’t spot me piddling around up here.
I peeked over the top feeling brave, then I climbed all the way up. I sat atop the shelf, getting a full view. It was breathtaking. The entire department was a lush rainforest. Overhead, above the canopy, actual clouds formed. I couldn't help but speak aloud a quiet “Woah.”
Maybe this is why Janis likes loitering on top of shelves. I can’t imagine Home and Decor looks as amazing as this, though.
As I began to be lulled once more by my surroundings, I saw a head peek at me from the shelf on the other side of the aisle from me— a head with thick, auburn spirals and some of the greenest eyes I had ever seen. It seemed they saw me before I saw them, and they were locked on me. They appeared apprehensive of my presence.
“Uh…hi,” I said with a wave.
The top half of the head was thankfully attached to a girl. She pulled herself up to the top of the adjacent shelf. She was pretty, really pretty. She wore a long dark green skirt and from what I could tell, a well-loved Led Zeppelin t-shirt peeking out from over the top lip of her white and green stained apron with a pair of combat boots. She eyed me inquisitively and said… something. I could only gesture to my ears and respond: “I can’t hear you, sorry.” She wrinkled her nose then began digging in her apron pocket and producing a notebook and pen. She scribbled something then proceeded to crumple up the paper into a small ball and throw it across the gap between us. She had a throwing arm to rival Fred’s, and the little ball landed in my lap. I carefully unfolded the slightly damp paper to read the message in flowery handwriting: “are you Max?”
My chest tightened with anxiety. Tell the pretty and mysterious girl my name and break rule one or lie and hope it doesn't come back to bite me.
I smiled and nodded my head like a dope.
She returned my smile and made the phone gesture with her hand, holding holding it up to her ear. I nodded and smiled again, mimicking the gesture. *Oh thank God she knows where the phone is.* I pulled out my own pen and scribbled on the other side of the paper: “what’s your name?” might as well even out the playing field, and tossed it to her. She opened it smiling wider this time, dimples appearing in her cheeks as she wrote her response and tossing the ball back to me. This was… actually kinda fun.
“Ana Odie” the note said. She wrote another and tossed it to me. It read: “what happened to your ears?”
I answered: “popped ‘em, I gotta answer the page.” I paused for a moment and quickly gestured for the paper back, she tossed it back to me and I added: “your ears aren’t damaged?”
I returned it and she responded by pulling a pair of scuffed-up EarPods out of her pocket with a sly smirk. Ah, good ol’ sound canceling. There was something about her that made that quiet suggestion to stay grow in intensity. She began to climb down, gesturing for me to follow, and I did so without missing a beat.
When I reached the bottom, the fog seemed so much thicker, the intoxicating smell of flowers lulled me to the point my eyelids began to feel heavy. The fog was so dense I couldn't even see my feet anymore, thankfully it only came to my knee. A gentle tap on my shoulder caused me to flinch and nearly reach for my box cutter. Ana held up her hands, smirking at me.
“Got ya.”
I still couldn't hear her voice, so I read her lips instead. I guess my ears are more messed up than I initially thought. I tried to relax and shrugged.
“You got me,” I said.
Ana began digging in her pocket once again but this time producing a fist-sized flower pod. It looked incredibly similar to the Zingiberaceae or The Shampoo Plant, but it was a vibrant electric blue and smelled like licorice root with molasses. She held it up and tilted her head.
“Tilt your head like this. It’ll help your ears.”
I didn’t argue and did as she said. Something about her was just so disarming. I tilted my head and she gently put one hand under my chin. With the other she held the pod above my ear. I heard a faint squish followed by the uncomfortable sensation of syrup being poured into my ear canal. My face contorted in a way that made her she giggled. At least she’s having fun…
What was strange though, her voice sounded like the quiet chirp of a broken bird…
This time when she spoke again, still no sound came from her. Either I was permanently deaf, she was mute or there was something else at play.
Either way I was faced with a new issue now. I couldn’t understand my guide and I’m horrible at lip reading…
She mouthed something I didn’t catch, She had no idea there was a huge communication barrier between us.
She took me by my chin, gently tilting my head to the other side. She squeezed the pod once more and it felt even worse going into my ear the second time. I couldn't help but stare and study her face for any sign of… something. Her eyes met mine again and she beamed. “Better?” She said, but didn't say.
My migraine and the throbbing in my ears quickly faded. So the flower juice did something.
“Y-yeah...thank you.”
She clapped. I heard that. Or I think I did.
“Good–” She said as well as a bunch of other things I couldn't really make out. She spoke quickly and I was only able to pick up something about flower food. She disappeared into the next aisle and I followed close behind her. I really hope we aren't taking a detour. I’m running out of time.
Every few steps I'd nearly trip over vines and whatever lay beneath the fog. Every time I did, she glanced at me from over her shoulder.
“Careful.” She’d say.
“Yeah, sorry.” my voice sounded even more muffled than before. I tried to keep pace with her as we walked and resist the urge to try digging the now quickly drying flower gunk in my ears.
By then I should have just kept my mouth shut, but I can't stand awkward silence. And now despite not being able to hear it, I could still feel it. Not to mention on top of being a horrible lip reader, I suck at talking to girls.
“So, how… how long have you been here?” I hoped she wouldn't notice me staring at her lips to understand what she was saying. I was becoming hyper-aware of what I was looking at which probably made it even worse.
“What do you mean?” She was now staring back at me which made me stare even harder at her. Dammit Max, Blink! Stop being weird!
“In ThetaMart… in Garden.”
“Oh. She began to fidget with her skirt and shrugged. “No.”
This is the hardest conversation I've ever had. Am I really that out of touch with talking to people? I seriously need to get out more.
Ana continued to talk, completely unfazed by our unspoken staring contest. She didn’t take her eyes off of me once. It was like she was so familiar with this place she didn't even need to look where she was going. I couldn’t help but wonder what that was like.
To be so sure of anything…
By then I had already missed half her sentence.
“–days or weeks and neither of us would know until our shifts are over.”
“Oh, yeah. But you aren't even a little concerned that you don't know how long you've been here?”
She gave me a strange look which told me I had almost certainly missed a social cue.
“Well, typically people who want to go home are people who either have someone they miss at home, or their home is better than where they are now. Neither of those apply to me. Plus I’m getting—” Something, something. I missed that last part. “And to top it all off, I think I found another reason to like it here.”
I felt her hand brush against mine and nearly leaped out of my skin.
“Y-yeah?” The only thing I could hear now was my heart thumping in my ears.
“Do you have someone you miss Max, someone waiting for you?”
“Me? No, not really. I’m half convinced that if I vanished, my family would be relieved.”
I paused. Why did I say that? There are people waiting for me.
The pink tint in my vision was making it hard to see. The fog now so thick…it felt like it was in my head. And the smell, was now so sweet it was starting to make me sick.
Ana traced my knuckles with her pinky finger before wrapping her hand around my own. The The distortion in my vision finally forcing me to break and look away.
She gently tugged on my earlobe. I looked at her again, being faced with the deep pools of striking emerald. The contrast was like lightning to the soul.
“That’s a shame, no one to miss or be missed by.”
I shrugged. Her words had no sound, but what they meant began to echo in my skull. I wanted her to stop, I wanted change the subject. But Ana kept going.
“Do you want to be missed, Max? To be loved?”
Her hands trailed up my arm and leaned her head on my shoulder as we walked. She continued staring up at me never once looking away. Her eyes practically piercing into me, the longer I looked into her eyes the harder it got to keep moving. To keep wanting to move, to blink, to speak.
I couldn't bring myself to respond anymore, I just nodded, my head bobbing like a bowling ball.
“Then stay here, with me. I'll make sure you are only loved.”
Wait. Hold on a second– I’m sure anyone who followed me to this point can say with certainty, I am not the smartest. But whatever this is, I knew that was a red flag. “That’s…a little forward–” My voice sounded like a lazy murmur, it was all I could manage.
“It’s what you need. You belong here.”
Her grip on me tightened. Ana was a lot stronger than she looked. Uh-oh–
“We'll have each other, always. We– Something, something– forever.”
My face began to go numb, Ana was all that was keeping me upright and walking. She knew it too. That dimpled smirk told me she had me right where she wanted me.
She stopped us and put her hands on my cheeks.
That little voice in my head telling me to stay was much louder now. It wasn’t mine…
Look at me Max. Don’t you want to stay?
I was transfixed. The smell felt like it was choking me. I could taste it, it sat in my lungs like cement and it left me rooted in place. Unable to move, think. Unable to call for help. Ana’s eyes had begun pulsing different shades of green. Infinite mandalas of spirals coalescing and folding in on themselves like beautiful stained glass mosaics. They were every shade of green imaginable.
“Stay with me.” She said. I couldn't even bring myself to tell her how much I wanted to.
I remember the soft bed of moss beneath me, chills running up and down my body in waves. I was so tired. I almost wished she would turn me to stone with those eyes, anything if it meant I could rest, Unbothered, forever. My brain re-registering how peaceful it was here, how easy it would be just to stay. It was such a comfortable idea.
I closed my heavy eyelids as Ana kissed me. Even to acknowledge the sensation of touch required too much energy. It burned and tasted like poison. But I gave in. My only reward was the world around me finally being plunged into an inviting, quiet black.
Consciousness came to me in waves. Strange sensations and sounds peaked my curiosity, but not enough to shake me from my stupor. At least that was the case until I felt a hot stinging on my backside. My eyes shot open. My body ached and my skin was tingling. That can’t be good.
My vision slowly came back into focus, and I realized I was sitting inside of a giant pitcher plant. I was submerged up to the neck in a translucent, green syrupy liquid that was doing God knows what to me. My entire body felt slightly numb but slightly warm. It was like being in an ogre's mouth. It was gross and I hated it.
“There he is.” Ana said, sitting on top of one of the pitchers beside me, like the hipster grunge version of Mary Poppins. But something was different. Something was very, very wrong.
I could hear her clear as a bell but… it sounded slightly distorted although she were speaking through a walkie-talkie that got dropped in the toilet. If that weren't disconcerting enough. She didn't look like she had before. Her face was gaunt, her lips had a blue tint to the and–
There was a large gaping hole in her left cheek. Her inner jaw left for the world to see. The right half of her ribcage was not much better. Inside I could see part of a lung and stomach tissue. Plants had made themselves at home in the exposed hole were her half decayed organs weren’t.
Oh. My. God. I got kissed by a dead girl. The fact I didn't puke inside my plant soup was pure luck. Guess Janis was right.
“I know that look.” She said. “Don’t be scared, it only hurts for a little while. But then you wont ever feel lonely or scared again. You wont feel anything ever again.”
“You CatFished him you Creep!!” Fred. screamed from somewhere above me. Of course. This mannequin was quickly becoming about as consistent as herpes.
I would've jumped if I hadn't already known Fred was four appendages short of a full mannequin and one brain cell short of having any semblance of common sense. Or even a plan.
“Shut up Fred!” Her once green eyes had too become covered in a swirling, milky film like Ralph’s. “I saw your pain, all those issues that have become a necrotic part of your life will be cut out.”
That’s what you think. You wont be happy cleaning me or my issues out of your people-slurping pod when the pager goes off again.
Ana looked at me like a butterfly in a jar. I could now see a thick vine connected to her lower back, suspending her in the air. She flashed me one last, now unintentionally toothy grin then shut the lid on my pitcher, and floated off. The pitcher itself was see through like glass with the texture of celery, and smelled like really pungent asparagus. To make matters worse, it was filling with more of the gross plant juice and that burn at the base of my spine began to build in intensity.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes tight as the soup cleared the top of my head. My brain began firing off thoughts like bullets from a gun.
Shit, shit, shit. I suck at holding my breath. I can't hold it forever. Ah God that really hurts. Is this what it felt like before I was born? Ew, don’t think about that. Focus Max, focus.
I did what no one in my situation should ever do, and opened my eyes again. Opening your eyes in giant carnivorous flower juice should melt your eyeballs on contact but to my surprise, that didn’t happen. I began digging into my apron pocket, pulled out my box cutter and made quick work of the plant flesh. I cut a hatch sized square and kicked it out of place. I didn’t really think that one through–
The juice spilled out and took me with it. I slipped out of the pitcher realizing I was many feet off the ground and falling. This must be what it's like to be a newborn giraffe. I fell about 10 feet before being jerked by the tender spot which I now saw was connected by a glowing vine thing doing probably nothing good. It came free with a sucking noise and keeping some of my skin as a souvenir. The burning increased tenfold, I heard a loud scream in my head and from everywhere around me.
I was left plummeting the rest of the way, screaming as well and holding the space above my asscrack.
Not one of my proudest moments...
Part 4

I work in retail and I learned that my bosses likes to have a drink sometimes while on their drive home. I said that’s kinda illegal but their rebuttal was “WE’RE NOT DRINKING TO GET HAMMERED JEEZ”
Then went on to say how I smoke cigarettes in my car and that helps me relieve the stress but we don’t smoke. To which I really had to say I’m endangering myself not others 🫨
Is this like…really common? Am I missing something? Or am I just being gaslit here? 😵‍💫 Is there really ever a situation permitting drinking WHILE driving???

B1665 - Smoking Elimination Bill - Second Reading

A
BILL
TO
Create a statutory duty to eliminate most smoking by 2030, implement licensing for the sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products, regulate e-cigarettes and for connected purposes
BE IT ENACTED by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:--

Chapter I: Smoke Free by 2030

Section 1: Smoke Free Target

(1) It is the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that by 2030, less than 5% of the United Kingdom population are regular smokers. This shall be referred to as the “Smoke Free Target”.
(2) The Secretary of State must publish an annual smoking elimination plan, which must include:

(a) an action plan demonstrating the actions to be taken by the Secretary of State to achieve the Smoke Free Target, (b) measurable objectives to be achieved by the time of the publication of the next annual smoking elimination plan, (d) a summary of failures to achieve targets set out in all previous smoking elimination plans until such time as they have been achieved, alongside remedial measures to ensure ascertainment of the relevant target.

Section 2: Definitions

(1) For the purposes of this act, a regular smoker is a person who usually consumes at least one tobacco product per week
(2) For the purposes of this act, a tobacco product is a product primarily intended for the consumption of nicotine, including but not limited to:

(a) smoked tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars and hookah tobacco, (b) smokeless tobacco products such as dipping tobacco, chewing tobacco or snus, (c) heated tobacco products, or (d) any other product as designated by regulations by the Secretary of State.

(3) For the purposes of this act, a nicotine-containing product is any product given under subsection (3), or an electronic cigarette, or any other product as designated by regulations by the Secretary of State.

Chapter II: Introduction of Licensing of Sale

Section 3: Licensing Requirement for sale

(1) A person commits an offence if they—
​

(a) sell nicotine-containing products by retail without a licence, or
(b) sell nicotine-containing products by retail from premises other than premises in respect of which they have been granted a licence, unless that licence is granted for online sales.

​
(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—
​

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine, or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine, or both.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person is considered to have sold a nicotine-containing product by retail if they provide the item for free.
(4) This Subsection shall come into force upon either the 1st of January 2025, or on a date appointed by regulation by the Secretary of State not later than the 1st of January 2027.

Section 4: Regulations Regarding Licensing

(1) A body known as the Tobacco Licensing Agency is to be formed.
(2) The Secretary of State must by regulations make provision about the granting of licences for the sale by retail of nicotine-containing products, and such regulations as the Secretary of State deems reasonably necessary for the orderly function of the Tobacco Licensing Agency.
(3) Regulations under subsection (2) must provide that—
​

(a) the licensing authority for the sale by retail of nicotine-containing products is the Tobacco Licensing Agency,
(b) the licensing authority may place conditions on persons to whom licences have been granted,
(c) no licence may be issued to or held by a person who has been convicted of an offence under section 7 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.
(d) licences will be issued on an individual basis for a specific address, or online point of sale, and subject to compliance inspection by the licensing authority.

(3) Regulations under subsection (2) must further ensure that the licensing authority may to such an extent compliant with other legislation regulate product standards with respect to products under their remit, including but not limited to:
​

(a) Restrictions of the marketing and advertising of tobacco products
(b) Requirements regarding health warning and information displays with respect to the sale of tobacco products

Section 5: Age Verification Conditions

(1) Regulations under section 4 must—

(a) require holders of a licence to operate an age verification policy, (b) enable the licensing authority to issue fines in respect of a failure to operate an age verification policy, (c) create criminal offences in respect of a failure to operate an age verification policy.

(2) The Secretary of State may publish guidance on matters relating to age verification policies, including guidance about—

(a) steps that should be taken to establish a customer's age, (b) documents that may be shown to the person selling a tobacco product or related goods as evidence of a customer's age, (c) training that should be undertaken by the person selling the tobacco product or related goods, (d) the form and content of notices that should be displayed in the premises, (e) the form and content of records that should be maintained in relation to an age verification policy.

(3) A person who carries on a business involving the retail sale of tobacco products must have regard to guidance published under subsection (2) when operating an age verification policy.

Chapter III: Regulations Regarding E-Cigarettes

Section 6: Extension of Plain Packaging to all “nicotine-containing products”

(1) Within the Plain Packaging Act 2016, the following amendments are to be made:-

(a) replace all instances of tobacco products with nicotine-containing products (b) replace Section 1 subsection c with: “c) Nicotine-containing products shall have the same meaning as that given in the Smoking Elimination Act 2023”.

Section 10: Ban of disposable e-cigarettes

(1) A person commits an offence if they sell disposable e-cigarettes (where intended for use as a nicotine-containing product) by retail.
(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine, or- (b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine, or both.

(3) For the purposes of this section, an e-cigarette shall be considered disposable if it is intended only for a single use, and lacks capacity either to be refilled or recharged by the user.
(4) This Subsection shall come into force upon either the 1st of January 2025, or on a date appointed by regulation by the Secretary of State not later than the 1st of January 2027.

Chapter IV: Implementation

Section 11: Commencement, Extent and Short Title

(1) This Act shall come into force one year after receiving Royal Assent.
(2) This Act shall extend to England only unless—

(a) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, in which case it shall also apply to Scotland, or (b) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Senedd Cymru, in which case it shall also apply to Wales, or (c) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly, in which case it shall also apply to Northern Ireland.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2024.
This bill was written by the Right Honourable Dame u/SpectacularSalad KG KP GCB OM GCMG GBE CT PC MP MLA FRS and the Right Honourable Sir u/weebru_m CT KT PC MP on behalf of His Majesty’s Government
Chapter 2 was largely sourced from the real life Sale of Tobacco (Licensing) Bill.
This Legislation amends the Plain Packaging Act 2016.
Opening Speech:
Deputy Speaker,
The house recently read the Advertisement of Vape Products (Regulation) Bill, one I was happy to welcome to this house and support at division. I believe that we in this house must do more to regulate vaping, and also to do what we can to eliminate smoking more generally.
Recalling also the Plain Packaging Bill read earlier this year (and subsequently withdrawn), I was spurred into action to propose the following legislation. I have sought to propose a package of world-leading, comprehensive measures.
Firstly, this bill will create a statutory duty for the Secretary of State to reduce the number of regular smokers to 5% of the population by 2030. In 2021 it was 13.3%, and below this threshold the UK will be considered “smoke free”. This 5% target is inspired by New Zealand’s health measures, but I must make clear that this bill does not go as far as a total ban for certain ages as seen in Aotearoa.
To support this goal, the bill will introduce two new licences. These are a licence on the sale of nicotine products (meaning tobacco products, and vapes), and a licence on the purchase of tobacco products specifically, but not vapes.
The nicotine-containing products licence will come into effect a year after passage of the bill, and this will require any business selling either tobacco or vapes to be licensed. This will also ban online sales of these products, making them only available in brick and mortar stores.
This effort is aimed at cracking down on the sale of tobacco and particularly vapes to young people, as the 25 years of age check will apply as a part of the terms of the licence itself. The NHS estimates that 9% of secondary school pupils either regularly or occasionally vape. This is 9% too many.
Eliminating online sale of tobacco or vaping products will close the online sales loophole, and by controlling which businesses are able to sell these products, we can implement better checks and controls to ensure that young people are unable to access them.
The second measure is the Tobacco Purchase Licence, which will come into forhttps://www.reddit.com/MHOC/comments/1bskb2u/b1665_smoking_elimination_bill_2nd_reading/ce no earlier than the beginning of 2027. This is a licence to be required for an individual to buy tobacco containing products (but explicitly not vapes).
This will be a free, renewable, annual licence. Everyone who is 18 or older will be able to get one, but they will need an application signed by their GP, with the licences themselves issued by NHS bodies, who may issue guidance to the GP on how to support the individual in question.
The aim here is twofold, firstly to ensure that all active smokers have some interaction with the NHS relating to smoking, giving us a greater ability to support cessation. Individuals will retain the right to choose to smoke tobacco, but they will be unable to renew their licence to purchase without a GP’s awareness.
The second aim is simply to make smoking tobacco more hassle than vaping. We do not know how harmful vaping is, but the NHS’ own guidance is that vapes are far less harmful than cigarettes, exposing users to fewer toxins and at lower levels than smoking cigarettes. By creating a licence required to buy tobacco but not vaping, it is hoped that individuals will be nudged away from cigarettes and towards vaping as a substitute. Due to the nature of the licence, this will be a passive incentive built into the nicotine-products market.
And that brings me neatly onto the fourth key strand of this legislation, that is the extension of plain packaging and out-of-view laws to vapes, and banning disposable vapes. The first component is intended to crack down on bright packaging intended especially to appeal to young people. The second component is intended to tackle both the ease of access to addictive nicotine products, and also to reduce the environmental impact of vaping.
Overall, this represents a comprehensive package of measures that will fit well with the Government’s existing proposals. I hope they will see fit to provide cross-bench support for these measures, aimed at the substantive elimination of smoking in the UK.
Lords can debate and submit amendments until the 22nd of April at 10pm BST.

Is anyone else finding it pretty comical about the government furore regarding the importation and distribution of vapes?
The government are taking this stance that this is a significant public health issue, when clearly this is purely an economic issue for the Australian government.
I get that the flavoured vapes and the bright packaging does entice a new generation of kids to dip their toes in the water of vaping, however I’m 30 and can remember kids at my school as young as year 8 smoking darts in the bushes at lunch time, probably purchasing smokes from the same retailers who now sell vapes - so what is the difference?
A quick google search found this snippet of an article publicly posted by the ATO:
“The tobacco market includes both legal and illicit tobacco. We estimate it has contracted 34% since 2015–16. Over this period, increasing excise rates drove up the amount of tobacco duty collected. The total collected reached $14.3 billion in 2020–21. We estimate a further $1.9 billion was evaded from illicit tobacco reaching the market.”
So the question is, are cigarettes okay but vapes not purely because the government collect billions from the taxes?
It’s no different from the online poker industry in Australia. I’m an avid Poker player and I live about an hour away from the nearest Casino, therefore I used to love playing online poker for real money on credible and regulated websites like 888 Poker & Poker Stars (overseas based online Poker platforms), however in 2017 the Australian Government abruptly banned anyone in Australia from playing online poker for real money referencing that they’ve identified that “online poker was a new trend contributing to problem gambling” - yet any pub & hotel in Melbourne can happily have a Pokies room open until as late as 4AM on a weekday, a TAB and a Keno. Not to mention that sports betting advertising is rampant in all forms of mainstream media and there’s about 100 betting apps currently active on the App Store.
So does the government actually give a fuck about its people? Or do they just care about how much revenue they can generate from their people?
Maybe I’m naive, maybe all governments act like this, maybe the loss in tax generation that not implementing these changes would have a significant detrimental macro-economic impact on our society and cause ripple affects elsewhere in cost of living. I’m certainly no expert on economics.
However, I personally would appreciate some actual transparency on their reasoning behind their policies FOR ONCE.