The Official Start Date of California’s Vape Ban Revealed
In California, flavored vape cartridges and other products are now illegal to sell. But it’s not stopping teens from finding ways to get them. A new UC San Diego study tracked Google searches before and after SB 793 went into effect. It found that even though fruity flavors are now banned, kids are buying them online.
What is the Official Start Date of the Vape Ban?
Three years ago, advocates for reducing smoking and vaping won a significant victory when the state of California banned the sale of most flavored tobacco products. The new law made flavored cigarettes and vapor products illegal in brick-and-mortar shops in the state, though exemptions for hookah and premium cigars remain. In anticipation of the ban’s enactment, Big Tobacco launched a referendum campaign to block it. But when does the vape ban start in California exactly? In December, a statewide ban suspended the sale of most flavored tobacco products and e-cigarettes nationwide. The ban will make it illegal for brick-and-mortar retailers to sell flavored tobacco or e-cigarettes, except for menthol cigarettes. The state’s tobacco tax revenues could drop by more than $100 million annually due to the statewide flavor ban. Despite the economic impact of the new policy, public health experts say it’s a step in the right direction to curb a national youth vaping epidemic. The vast majority of teens who try tobacco and vaping do so with flavored products.
What are the Exemptions?
A year after voters upheld California’s e-cigarette vape ban, tobacco companies have launched a legal challenge that reached the US Supreme Court. But the high court hasn’t yet ruled on whether to take up the case, so the state law remains in place. It requires retailers to stop selling, offering to sell or possessing with intent to sell flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, vape pods and chewing tobacco. However, menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars and flavored loose-leaf pipe tobacco are exempt from the new law. Retailers can still sell those products online, but they must register with the state and follow other regulations like limiting the number of people they allow in their storerooms. Vaping interests say the ban harms millions of adult smokers who use e-cigs to quit smoking and could drive them back to traditional tobacco products that are linked to deadly lung diseases. They also argue that the law doesn’t allow for an exemption for products with modified risk use that the FDA approves for weaning adults off of combustible cigarettes. Public health organizations and education groups support the statewide ban. However, it is opposed by police agencies who argue that it will make it easier for criminal networks to smuggle and distribute vapor products across the state.
What are the Requirements?
Effective December 21, the law bans the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and vaping products. It also prohibits the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, except for those with special exceptions. It will also require inspecting and registering vapor products, including those with flavors other than tobacco. Proponents of the ban argue that fruit and candy-flavored e-cigarettes and vape pods are causing an uptick in youth smoking rates, with 80% of kids who have ever smoked reporting they started with a flavored tobacco product. The state’s tobacco industry spent more than $22 million in an attempt to defeat the ballot measure, but it ultimately failed to block its implementation. Smoking is already illegal in public places and workplaces in California and multi-unit residences like apartments and condos. In addition, the state raised the legal age for purchasing tobacco and vapor products to 21. But for many adult smokers, e-cigs are an effective way to quit using tobacco altogether. The statewide flavor ban harms millions of these Californians, who will be forced back to cigarettes.
What are the Options?
The new law impacts the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including vape pods for tank-based systems, in brick-and-mortar stores and online. It does not ban online sales, but it makes selling the products more difficult and requires an adult sign for all shipments. It also includes an age verification requirement and a sales tax. It exempts hookah, pipe tobacco and premium cigars. Support for the statewide flavor ban was broad and strong, fueled by anti-vaping groups who backed the initiative with massive funding. But vaping interests aren’t giving up on fighting the law, arguing that it harms millions of adult smokers who switched to e-cigs and will force them back to cigarettes. Some retailers have already pulled some flavored vaping products from their shelves, and a few other tobacco and vapor manufacturers filed a Hail Mary lawsuit in a bid to block California’s new laws. The Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether the state is right to leapfrog the Food and Drug Administration by banning flavored vaping products. If the ruling goes through, it could spur other states to follow suit and lead to an illicit black market. In the meantime, Petaluma, Sebastopol, and Windsor have passed city ordinances that are more restrictive than state law.
