Indiana Eliminates The American Dream

One of the best parts of the United States is the ability to realize the dream of building your own business from the ground up. In any industry, even a (pardon my french) “tobacco product” if ecigs were classified as such everywhere, one man should be able to start with a single penny and apply his time, energy and ingenuity to turn that penny into a multimillion dollar corporation.

The reality of constructing something from nothing, or almost nothing, is far from available in most industries these days, as government is unwilling to risk allowing technologies that threaten it’s current large margin profit products. Any product that stands in the way of taxes is viewed as some sort of loop hole from what they see as your responsibility to chip in money to the government coffers. This is especially true now in Indiana, as start up costs are going to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars before you can sell your first bottle of eliquid.

These costs aren’t largely in part of taxation, as potentially a business would only need to submit an application totaling $1500. This is, of course, not a guarantee that your companies application will be accepted. But, not to worry, you can continue trying again as long as you submit another $1500 with your next application within 30 days. And, of course, there’s no guarantee there either. You must also submit a plan that includes the blue print to your casino grade security systems. I’m assuming this is to ensure the quality of your eliquid is not compromised in the event that someone somewhere wished to cause a mass genocide by eliquid manufacturing. Who’s wearing a tin-foil hat now big brother?

In fact, not only do you have to make and store the liquid in a third party suveiled state, but you must also create your liquid in batches. And, three bottles of that batch must remain in a constant state of surveilance for the next few years. Ya know, just in case. We are most certainly going to need a large industrial park with cameras everywhere and very little access to outside personel if everyone in the United States were to attempt selling eliquid in Indiana. Maybe we could hire the crew from Oceans 11 to get us some eliquid.

There’s a specific reason that I said the security measures necessary were on the same level that casinos use, and that’s because this law in Indiana was supported by one eliquid company who also just happens to own… a casino. Monument Vapor, who’s website “Indiana Grand Casino Vapor” has since disappeared, and vapers in Indiana are struggling to keep up with the name changes of the company. This is presumably so the company itself can avoid backlash from the community. But, I highly doubt our more technologically advanced members in the community will let them hide forever.

Did I mention that any company located outside of the state wishing to sell eliquid in the state must also adhere to these unconceivably obscure standards? And there’s nothing in the law that says the state of Indiana has to go out of their way to come to your state to find out if you’re complying with these regulations. Instead, again, I’m sure they’d much rather just reject your application and keep the $1500 you submitted with it. And, don’t even think of trying to find a loophole that allows you to create your own liquid at home, that’s illegal now as well.

There is potentially good news, however. It is going to take some time for the government to figure out how to enforce the new radical laws. And, a plan must be implemented before they can start shutting stores down. This may grant some time to get us into the next legislative session and more time to allow vapers in the state to contact their elected officials to display their displeasure. Let’s hope that actually continues to happen even though in the mean time it will appear to consumers that nothing is awry. That’s almost an unfortunate circumstance. There’s currently no way of telling just when the shut down date will be for sure. Also, there’s a slim chance that the FDA could impose a rule that disallows states to go above and beyond the federal deeming regulations when it comes to manufacturing. That would be a best case scenario, in my opinion.

Politicians are very misinformed about electronic cigarettes in many states. And, none of them want to completely ban the sale of electronic cigarettes, as that would probably look bad on their resume. But, in one state, apparently elected officials have been very well informed of how to create a complete monopoly of the manufacture of eliquid for one company. The only question that remains, is what is in it for them to do such a thing?