Washington State pipe smokers Please Read

[rramstad]

Hi. I'm a member of the Seattle Pipe Club and have been organizing
folks and legislators to amend the Washington State law that was passed last
session as Senate bill 5340. This law makes it illegal for anyone in the state
(even an adult) to receive pipe tobacco by mail, because it makes the shipment
of all tobacco illegal — except cigars. We are working very hard to
have that law amended to allow the shipment of pipe tobacco. There’s
a chance to get this law changed -- if you live in Washington and smoke a pipe,
we need your help right now. If you don’t help, it won’t happen.
And that’s bad for all of us.

I believe that the restriction on pipe tobacco was somewhat
unintentional, in that the desire of the people involved was to
protect children by making it harder for them to acquire cigarettes,
and we're really asking the legislature to correct this error this
session.

Rep. Dickerson will be introducing a bill to this effect in the House,
and Sen. Kohl-Welles will be introducing a similar or identical bill
in the Senate.

If you are a Washington State pipe smoker, here’s what you do.

First, take a look at the talking points here:

http://www.bobramstad.com/Pipes/5340SPC.html

also talking points in PDF here:

http://www.bobramstad.com/Pipes/5340SPC.pdf

The general line of discussion runs like this:

This bill is needed because of SSB 5340, C 278 L 09 as passed last
session. The cigarette delivery sale statute was repealed by the law
but in the process included pipe tobacco. It states that a person may
not ship tobacco products, other than cigars weighing more than three
pounds for 1,000 units, purchased by mail or through the internet to
anyone in Washington other than a licensed wholesaler or retailer.
This was an unfair law, which went unchallenged due to its obscurity,
to pipe smokers. We ask that you support legislation to rectify this
problem for pipe smokers and the few remaining Washington tobacco
stores who would like to ship to in-state customers.

Pick out three or four talking points that you believe are especially
relevant, and jot them down.

Then, find your state Representatives and your Senator by using the
form at this URL.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

Telephone your two Representatives asking them to please co-sponsor a
bill by Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson allowing our members to order pipe
tobacco for delivery to their homes. If you can’t get an answer then,
please ask that they or their aides please call back with a yes or
no. If they don’t call back in a week, call them again, etc. A copy
of the bill draft can be viewed at the URL below and can be sent to
your Representative.

NEXT, call your Senator and ask if he or she will co-sponsor a bill by
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles to allow us to order pipe tobacco for delivery
to our homes. If you can’t get an answer then, please ask that the
Senator or aides please call back with a yes or no. If they don’t
call back in a week, call them again, etc. A copy of the bill draft
by Rep. Dickerson can be viewed at the URL below and can be sent to
the Senator. We believe the one by Sen. Kohl-Welles will be the same
or similar.

Draft legislation can be viewed here:

http://www.bobramstad.com/Pipes/Amend5340Draft.pdf

There's a more detailed background on this here:

http://www.bobramstad.com/Pipes/5340.html

Email can be effective too, but I would call first, then send a follow
up email with an intro like "Hi, I live in your district, and called
about this matter, and wanted to follow up via email" which lets them
know you're the kind of person that's going to follow up if you don't
get a response...

Once you've contacted your legislators, PLEASE close the loop by
posting on our Google Group

* Group name: Washington State Pipe Smokers
* Group home page: http://groups.google.com/group/washi...e-pipe-smokers
* Group email address washington-state-pipe-smokers@googlegroups.com

and letting us know what you've found out! Is your
legislator positive, neutral, negative, not responding, hostile,
thrilled? Please provide both the name of the legislator, House or
Senate (Rep or Sen) and the district number.

On behalf of all the pipe smokers in Washington State, thank you!

-- Bob