pharmaceutical industry - eliquids

[fayeema.com]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to gauge peoples impressions on the future of the e-liquid industry. With all the proposed laws and regulations being considered do you think pharmacists could play a role should laws come into place curbing traditional eliquid makers?

I am currently a recruitment consultant for pharmacists dealing with 100's of pharmacists up n down the country on a daily basis. I work with some of te biggest retailers in the industry. I am also a proud vaper and vendor on POTV. With all the negativity surrounding the future i thought i could send some positivity your way.

If they bring laws into place resulting in people needing pharaceutical licence's to produce these products do not fear. There are hundreds if not thousands of Registered qualified uk pharmacists out of work and currently looking. Im sure many would be happy to produce these products if their wages were being paid. I think it would also increase consumer confidence in buying your products knowing it has been made by someone who is qualified to do this.

What i want from this thread is peoples input on the matter ( good or bad)

Thanks
Faz

P.S. Downside is a pharmacist cost £20 per hour!!!

 

[Tromain]

I would like to think that would work, but if the gov decides it has to be regulated by pharmaceuticals then that would more then likely involve no flavours being allowed(just like the current regs are with the NRT inhalators.. no flavour, just nic) not to mention to cover the wages of a pharmacist the cost of the juices would HAVE to go up to compensate, making them far too expensive to be practical.

On the flip side, if the gov allowed flavours and just said you have to be licensed by big P to sell nic juices, first thing I'd do; as a future juice vendor, would be look into getting qualified myself so I could legally sell them.

 

[AndyC1971]

Personally, this is the way I think the government is going to end up going if I am honest. It might just be me being cynical, but they are going to lose out massively on tax from the switch, so regulate the manufacture of eliquid to the hilt, ban sales of nic base liquid, and slap on massive taxes

 

[Accies]

My pharmacist says I should suck on a straw instead of vaping. He's not gonna be much use to me, even though he's more qualified to make juice........?

 

[ZT]

IM against it personally .. I do NOT want pharma to have anything to do with e-liquid in anyway .

It is NOT a medical product

It would be like asking pharma to take over the production Of whisky .. or even red bull

Though I appreciate your thought on trying to ease our minds

 

[KulrMeStoopid]

Pharma and Big T in my eyes have no business in Ecigs.

Nicotine is NOT a medicine, nor is it tobacco

 

[AnnaLaw]

You don't need the qualifications of a pharmacist to make eliquid, that is super-overtraining. We're talking about 4 ingredients and basically a food hygiene certificate plus the ability to measure accurately is ample. I may be more qualified than most mixers as I studied chemistry at uni for a year so have the knowledge on handling toxic substances (but nicotine in those densities are illegal without a poisons licence anyway).If the desired regulations happen then pharmacists wouldn't need their training, as they'd just be selling a pre-packaged product, probably of no interest to anybody apart from those who want to use it as an NRT to help quit nicotine. As nicotine isn't a medicine pharmacists may make better mixers than somebody with no formal training but the same is true of a number of other fields. If I could only buy eliquid (at inflated prices as it would be mage by pharmaceutical and tobacco companies) I'd probably go back to smoking 40 a day. As I'm no longer in my youth and I'd been smoking for 50 years I doubt that a return to smoking would do more than empty my bank account and cost the government more on health care than I'd be paying in taxes. I would like to see sensible regulations, food safety qualifications for mixers, age limit for sale, would even accept a max of 5% density nicotine although as I make my own that would make it cost more. But medicines regulations and pharmaceutical control would kill vaping as we know it. For the comment on unflavoured NRT inhalators, they are flavoured with menthol. I loathe menthol! Apologies for not starting new paragraphs, for some odd reason my enter button doesn't work any more here.

 

[fayeema.com]

Thanks for the comments, I personally am against the big pharmaceuticals controlling our industry.. I just thought it would be meaningful to have this discussion prior to anything being forced upon us rather than after the event. I think that regulation can be a good thing under the right rules as i have experienced in many different fields of business and actually will increase sales by at least double however as mentioned by the members above will also increase costs. Also agree with AnnaLaw's comment that you dont need to be a genius to essentially mix a few chemicals together.

Regarding wether the big pharmaceuticals would take total control i think its doubtful. for the smaller sellers they wouldn't necessarily need a pharmacist to mix the chemicals. The pharmacist would just need to sign off that they are 100% sure it has been manufactured to regulatory standards. So essentially we could still make the mixes ourselves and as long as the pharmacist is 100% sure it as been made according to what is required he could sign it and it would be suitable for sale.

The alternative which i think is better is the food safety route. I think as long as somebody has food safety qualifications then it should suffice. Personally i doubt the government would agree but hey if they ever see this thread tell them to give me a call and ill tell them my views!!

Sometimes you don't always get what you want in life. Preparation is the key.. I think if regulation does come into play there will still be a part for us vapers to play in the aftermath. Who know's if we do enough preparation and have the right dialogue with the sort of minds i've seen on this forum we might even play a part in helping to shape the regulation (to our advantage of course!!)

 

[steffijade]

I don't see any absolute need for a pharmacist to mix e-liquid. I've been mixing my own for a few years and I haven't managed to kill or poison myself and I have no formal training.

The technology to mix using machines already exists (when I worked in the printing industry, all the inks I used were custom mixed on site by a computer controlled system). For larger suppliers, this is probably the way forward.

For 'kitchen sink' mixers who supply on a smaller scale, this probably isn't an option but their customers are more likely to view the mixers as being trustworthy and reliable... or they wouldn't buy the e-liquid in the first place.

A basic understanding of hygiene and the use of childproof, properly labeled bottles are all that are really needed imho... although a decent recipe doesn't hurt either.

Requiring a pharmacist to produce e-liquid is overkill.

 

[fayeema.com]

I totally agree with the comments above.. The question is with the rapid expansion of the industry in the past year what will the consumers of the future be happy with and where will they be happy spending their money. would they prefer to spend it with quality controlled products made by expensive machinery in controlled environments as mentioned above or will they be happy with cottage industry type products produced in home made lab setups.. i think they will buy from both if laws allow.. however the other question is what will be the split in terms of sales and will it still be enough for cottage industry based companies to make a profit? i personally think even if we retained a market share of 25% it would still be viable and with a well run Forum like PLANET OF THE VAPES to help us it is certainly achievable..