The Rest of the Story: Tobacco and Alcohol News Analysis and Commentary

...Providing the whole story behind tobacco and alcohol news.

Monday, October 07, 2019

Utah Department of Health Concludes that THC Vape Cartridges are Causing Respiratory Disease Outbreak; Issues Specific Warning against Use of THC Oils

Unlike most other state health departments, which are conflating the respiratory disease outbreak associated with black market (and a few le...

Friday, October 04, 2019

CDC's Communications are Likely Making this Outbreak Much Worse

A new survey released yesterday by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago found that the public believes ...

Thursday, October 03, 2019

New Mayo Clinic Study Further Implicates Contaminated THC Oils in Respiratory Disease Outbreaks and Refutes Claim that Store-Bought Nicotine E-Liquids are Involved

A study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine by a team of researchers at the Mayo Clinic provides further evidence t...

Tuesday, October 01, 2019

The “Other” Youth Vaping Epidemic: Why Has It Been Ignored?

While the CDC and many health groups have been obsessed with youth e-cigarette use, an even more troubling epidemic has been spreading among...

Monday, September 30, 2019

To Protect Youth from Progression to Cigarette Smoking, Truth Initiative Wants to Ban the Fake Ones But Let Real Cigarettes Remain on the Shelves

In an op-ed piece published by CNN last Friday, the president of the Truth Initiative bemoaned the "epidemic" of vaping among ou...

In Response to Two Deaths Due to Marijuana Vaping, Oregon Health Department Recommends Ban on Nicotine-Containing Electronic Cigarettes

In response to two deaths that it says were attributable to vaping cannabis purchased from legal state dispensaries and three additional cas...

Sunday, September 29, 2019

CDC Finally Admits that Black Market THC Vape Carts are a Major Culprit in Respiratory Disease Outbreak

The CDC has finally admitted that black market THC vape carts are a major culprit in the respiratory disease outbreak that has affected 805 ...

Friday, September 27, 2019

CDC's Failure to Demand Urine THC Testing of All Outbreak Patients is Inexcusable and is Putting the Entire Nation at Risk

The CDC has irresponsibly botched its entire investigation of vaping-associated respiratory illness (VARI) by failing to recommend or demand...

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Using Its Emergency Powers, Rest of the Story Issues Four-Month Temporary Ban on Further E-Cigarette Bans

Today, I am bypassing the usual rulemaking process and using my emergency powers to declare a public health emergency and accordingly, I am ...

Politicians Continue to Destroy Hundreds of Small Businesses as More Drug Busts Reveal Thousands More Illicit THC Vape Carts

Yesterday, the governor of yet another state - Rhode Island - announced that he would be directing the Department of Health to ban the sale...

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Massachusetts Governor's Emergency Order Protects Drug Dealers at the Expense of Hundreds of Life-Saving Small Businesses

In a move that is a huge victory for the state's drug dealers, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has instituted a 4-month ban on the...

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Arizona Detectives Bust Illegal THC Vape Cart Operation and Butane Hash Oil Lab; CDC Continues to Go After Legal Manufacturers and Downplay the Role of these Black Market Marijuana Products

Two weeks ago, detectives with the Maricopa County Drug Suppression Task Force busted an illegal THC vape cart operation in Phoenix. They f...

Monday, September 23, 2019

CDC Investigation into Respiratory Disease Outbreak Has Contributed Absolutely Nothing to the Public's Knowledge So Far

Before the CDC initiated its investigation of vaping-associated respiratory illness (VARI) on August 1, here is what we knew about the outb...

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Results from National Survey Show that CDC's Communication about Respiratory Disease Outbreak Has Been a Public Health Disaster

A newly released, national public opinion survey conducted by Morning Consult reveals that twice as many U.S. adults believe that JUULs, a...

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About Me

Michael Siegel: Dr. Siegel is a visiting professor and researcher in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Tufts University. Dr. Siegel has 32 years of experience in the field of tobacco control. He previously spent two years working at the Office on Smoking and Health at CDC, where he conducted research on secondhand smoke and cigarette advertising. He has published nearly 70 papers related to tobacco. He testified in the landmark Engle lawsuit against the tobacco companies, which resulted in an unprecedented $145 billion verdict against the industry. He teaches health communication theory and social mareketing in the Masters of Public Health program.

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