A city-wide ban has been placed on flavored nicotine juices. The ban will stay in effect until all e-cigarette products abide by FDA regulations. Many people are hoping that this ban will help to limit sales, especially to minors. JUUL brand e-cigarettes, which ironically enough were founded in San Francisco, is not taking the ban easily.
JUUL Responds
JUUL became the most popular brand of e-cigarettes at the end of 2017, and many of its users are minors. Despite the fact that many minors purchase and use JUULs, the company has done a lot at the state level to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 21. But they are still fighting the attempted regulations on marketing flavored products to minors. They just announced that the headquarters will be moving to a larger location in the bay area.
“[The ban] has to be an irritant for the company that plays the leading role in the youth e-cigarette epidemic in the United States to be headquartered in the city that has done more than any other to try to protect its youth.”
~Matthew Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
The ban, which now has more than double the required number of signatures, will go into effect early in 2020. JUUL argues that putting this ban into effect will only create a “thriving black market”. They fear that this ban will also make it difficult for adult users who are making the switch from traditional cigarettes to buy their JUUL products. However, JUUL is more concerned about losing their underage consumers who make up close to 50% of the vaping community.
Cleaning the Nation
San Francisco has always been at the forefront of these kinds of issues, whether it’s taxing soda, banning straws to reduce plastic in the oceans, or now, banning flavored tobacco products to reduce the potential for innocent kids to become lifelong smokers. Other states will be watching this situation closely to see whether or not it is efficient enough to implement in other states as well.
