(This just came across my desk, figured I’d share it with you… A note
from CASAA.org … )

Dear Members,

Last July, CASAA reached out to our members and
allies with an urgent plea for funding. We spent the summer and into
the fall approaching potential donors, but fell short of our goal. In
turn, CASAA continued cutting costs to the point that we were no
longer able to support our small staff of two paid employees. Since
August of 2024, CASAA is completely run by volunteers. We have
secured funding to enable us to continue our legislative advocacy
efforts until August of this year. But beyond that, we do not expect
enough future support to continue in any meaningful way.

It is with mixed emotions that we are taking this opportunity to announce
that 2025 will be CASAA’s last year of active engagements.
While we will be ceasing our legislative advocacy at the end of
August, our website, CASAA.org, remains a valuable educational
resource documenting the history of vaping, explaining tobacco harm
reduction, and celebrating the consumer-led revolution in adoption of
safer nicotine products. CASAA will use some of our remaining funds
to keep the website active, although we anticipate transforming it
into a legacy site. This means that information contained on the site
will be pared down so that the site will require little
maintenance.

Although we have gratefully received feedback
from fellow advocates and industry leaders praising our efforts and
noting the significance of our role in the consumer-led tobacco harm
reduction movement, those accolades are rarely accompanied by
financial support. For the better part of a decade, CASAA has
articulated this dissonance by saying that it is absolutely
appropriate for businesses to devote most or all of their advocacy
budget to state and national trade groups.

While industry support has made up a significant portion of our funding, it was
never expected that shops and manufacturers would pay for everything.
Being supported by our consumer membership has allowed us to remain
independent in our policy positions and advocacy messages that
support affordable and legal access to safer alternatives to smoking.
But that independence is fragile, and we experienced the consequences
from bucking the narrative of the largest tobacco companies when we
opposed policies that ban sales of unauthorized products — products
that still make up more than 90% of the safer nicotine market.

Since 2009, CASAA has been a tireless voice of and for consumers who
switched away from combustion to safer, smoke-free nicotine products.
We have done this work on a shoestring, which is a testament to the
power of our stories. CASAA has represented our members in city
halls, state legislatures, and federal regulatory bodies, as well as
shared the consumer view at professional conferences and in the
media. We have brought to our work the heart and soul that only comes
from genuine grassroots advocacy. Consmers are being recognized as a
vital part of the debate over the responsible regulation of less
risky tobacco and nicotine products, which is a pillar of CASAA’s
mission.

We are not making this announcement from a place of
desperation or futility. This is not the end, but merely a step in
the evolution of consumers’ awareness, acceptance, and access
to safer nicotine products and a healthier future.

Thank you for standing up for tobacco harm reduction!

Sincerely,

Alex
Clark, Executive Director, CASAA

…this comes as a shock to the vaping community !

We thank CASAA for over 10 years of advocacy !

Sure seems like a sign of the times, with anti-vaping laws enacted all over the U.S. ….

Stay strong ! Vape on !