WA resident? Class C felony to order snus after July 26th.

[Soft Morning, City!]

Scary. Very scary.

[Roo]

The way I read it, it will be a class C felony to knowingly ship tobacco products (except the kinds that are vastly favored by rich and/or adult consumers) to any consumer in Washington State. I'm still looking into it, but as far as I can tell, it is not illegal to receive such shipments but to send. And our preferred vendors will surely take heed of the potential penalties and stop shipping to WA residents. Why wouldn't they? It is now conceivable that I will be forced to have orders shipped to relatives or friends in Portland, which luckily for me isn't a big deal because I drive down there once or twice a month as it is. But this law IS a big deal. I also see in my future buying many $8 cans of General los. They are a block away from me everyday but I've never had the need to spend $8 on something I rarely order for $3. How do you other WA State residents interpret it? I had a hard day at work and I'm not ready to get too deep into this right now, help me out lol.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 70.155 RCW 28 to read as follows: 29 (1) A person may not: (a) Ship or transport, or cause to be shipped or transported [is ordering the shipment "causing it"?], any tobacco product ordered or purchased by mail or through the internet to anyone in this state other than a licensed wholesaler or retailer; or (b) With knowledge or reason to know of the violation, provide substantial assistance to a person who is in violation of this section. (2)(a) A person who knowingly violates subsection (1) of this section is guilty of a class C felony, except that the maximum fine that may be imposed is five thousand dollars.

[sundog]

I am not a lawyer (do we have one here?), but it sounds like "cause to be shipped or transported" means ordering. If it were illegal to just ship it, there's no way the state could enforce the law. They don't have jurisdiction over companies in other states, much less over other countries.

[whokilledmyhooker]

North America is bullshit **** this, I wish i lived in sweden

[bakerbarber]

Wow.

Umm, looks to me if you befriended a tobacco vendor they mentioned in the law and piggybacked an order with theirs, or just asked them to order it for you they could legally do it.

Regardless it's ****ed up bullshit. We have much bigger things to worry about in our world.

What ever happened to letting people decide what was best for themselves.

Not to come off as sexist, but this law was proposed by a woman and signed by a woman. That kinda stuck out when I read it. I wonder if one of them heard of a kid ordering dip online? Maybe they caught their kids smoking a cigarette and wanted to save every other mother in the state from such tradgedy.

[Roo]

Bakerbarber wrote:

Umm, looks to me if you befriended a tobacco vendor they mentioned in the law and piggybacked an order with theirs, or just asked them to order it for you they could legally do it.

As far as I know there are two snus vendors in WA State and they are both within 10 blocks of where I work, and they both sell General only. If it came down to it and a year from now the only way I could get snus was to buy the whole range of only SM products, I wouldn't kill myself. But they only carry General.

sundog wrote:

it sounds like "cause to be shipped or transported" means ordering

I don't know, this is definitely the question to be answered. To me it sounds like some legal jargon meaning any party who plays a roll in facilitating the shipment to a WA state resident, for example Northerner selling SM products as a middleman between SM's North American factory and North American consumers. It doesn't sound like it's directed at the end-consumer, but maybe so. Remains to be seen.

sundog wrote:

They don't have jurisdiction over companies in other states, much less over other countries

That's a good point. If it only does apply to vendors, how could Swedish distributors be subject to Washington State laws. Getsnus would be for sure though, as well as the free samples from the General website that seem to be one of the fingers stirring the pot here. And it seems like mail-order cigs were initially a prime target, based on what's been crossed out in the amendment that was first posted. Anyway, those of us who this affects, let's keep an eye on it and keep everyone informed. Thanks again.

[Castlewa]

Yeah I live outside Bellingham, WA in the boondocks and to get a can of General I would have to drive 2 hours to Seattle. No one even close to me carries anything except that Camel crap. I haven't been upset about anything regarding tobacco like this before but this is the straw that broke my back. I mean the cigar tax here was one of the worst in the country for many years. Now my humis are full and next the fridge with snus.

I won't even get into how I feel about the individual who passed this.

Will tobacco grow in a wet cold climate? I am ready to take matters into my own hands and grow my own. Maybe indoors?

I quit the cancer sticks about 3 months ago using snus and found I really enjoy it and now this.

I am still so upset I am not coherent!

[kevin32]

If its only illegal to send but not receive it shouldn't make much difference. Companies that are established in Sweden do not have to adhere to Washington law. That means its only valid for companies that send tobacco from Washington. And it may get confiscated in the mail if its sent to you. A small risk.

That is, unless its illegal to receive tobacco aswell.

[justintempler]

Will tobacco grow in a wet cold climate? I am ready to take matters into my own hands and grow my own. Maybe indoors?

Here's is the place to ask:

http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/forum/index.php
or
http://www.coffinails.com/forums/

[SnusHound]

The stash came in and has been stored. It is all snus except a bag of coffee, a small container of ice cream, and those ice cube trays. My g/f is going to kill me when she sees that, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. :lol:

Photo:

[sundog]

Yeah, who needs food? :lol:

[SnusHound]

Yeah, who needs food? :lol:

Much victuals serves for gluttony
To fatten men like swine;
But he's a frugal man indeed
That with a leaf can dine.
And needs no napkin for his hands,
His fingers' ends to wipe,
But keeps his kitchen in a box,
And roast meat in a pipe.

-Samuel Rowlands (1611)

:lol:

[sundog]

Excellent!

[kevin32]

You'd probably save quite a bit of space if you stacked them properly.

[SnusHound]

Yeah, I realized that but didn't have much time during lunch to bag them and it fit. Next time I need to store a frozen pizza or something I'll have to fix that.