Mehta Decision Provides CRA Support on the Hill
By Cody Carden – 9/14/2023
On August 9, 2023, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta fundamentally altered the tobacco regulation landscape when he struck down all U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulations on premium cigars.
This historic day for the premium cigar industry was the culmination of fifteen years of work and tens of thousands of man-hours by Cigar Rights of America (CRA) advocating for premium cigars and fighting back against FDA’s regulation of the industry.
During the deeming regulation’s comment period, CRA was the lone voice making science-based arguments during the rule-making process, which proved foundational to Judge Mehta’s decision. CRA was so dedicated to this effort because FDA’s improper deeming of premium cigars inhibited manufacturers’ ability to create novel cigars and treated century-old family-owned small business premium cigar manufacturers as if they produced the same product as machine-made mass-market cigars and cigarillos.
Because of this strident belief that science would win out, CRA achieved the most significant tobacco regulatory repeal in modern history and, with it, opened all new legislative potentials for our industry at the state and federal level.
This victory is not just a rebuke to FDA’s attempts at unscientific overregulation, it also provides critical support for CRA’s efforts when engaging with lawmakers. Members of Congress have historically been responsive to CRA’s arguments in theory, but have hesitated to be the first branch of the federal government to acknowledge how premium cigars are differentiated from mass-market tobacco products and vaping.
With the Mehta decision in hand, CRA now enters the fall legislative session with the wind at our backs and a clear mandate from the courts to respect the unique facets of premium cigars, which make them unique in the tobacco industry.
As a result, we look forward to continuing to fight for your cigar rights with the hard-earned support of the Federal Courts setting the definition of premium cigars.
CRA’s legislative team is already on the ground implementing our advocacy plan and leveraging our coalition of alliances to enable your voices to be heard in Congress and to build support for memorializing a federal definition for premium cigars like the one Judge Mehta adopted (see footnote below).
We will not stop until we have educated every Member of Congress about the Mehta decision and achieved our goal of securing legislation which exempts premium cigars from FDA regulation once and for all.