The suspension of the California flavoured vape ban is likely to last for two years until voters make up their minds on whether to overturn or keep the law. Some opponents of the ban, including flavoured smokeless tobacco, small cigars, and menthol cigarettes have collected enough signatures from voters. This was in a bid to give voters the choice to reject the vape and tobacco ban in the November 2022 referendum.
Moreover, the CCF (California Coalition for Fairness) which is a group that is funded and created by major companies for tobacco said it has collected over a million signatures from registered voters in the states that are opposed to the ban. The Los Angeles times said that up to 623, 312 valid signatures are required. Besides, groups similar to the coalition collect more than the required amount of signatures because many get discarded by state auditors. Subsequently, the ban only covers products that are sold in retail stores and don’t apply to online stores. Originally, the bill banned all tobacco and vaping products in flavours other than tobacco itself, but along the line, lobbyists got successful in obtaining the final version of pipe tobacco, premium cigars, and hookah products. Governor Newsom signed this into law on the 28th day of August.
Senator Jerry Hill who is responsible for introducing the bill said that flavoured tobacco has been used by the industry to attract even minors to vaping and smoking. Moreover, he cited a study carried out in 2018 by the CDCP (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) which found that up to 49 percent of middle school students and 67 percent of high school students that used tobacco products in the prior 30 days also made use of flavoured tobacco products. Cigarette manufacturers BAT/RJ Reynolds (Newport, Camel) and Altria (Marlboro) funded the CCF in large parts by spending up to 21 million dollars in an effort to stop the ban. Based on what was said by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the 22-month delay might cost cigarette manufacturers a lot since it will mean an additional 1.1 billion dollars in the sales for cigarettes. Though, it will also bring a little relief to small vape business owners in the state.
The law would have been a death sentence for many e-liquid manufacturers and vape shop owners. Although, online sales were allowed to continue, most vape shops in California depend so much on face-to-face sales of flavoured e-liquid vapes.
Shockingly, there weren’t any exceptions made for the products that have been approved and gone through the premarket review process of the FDA. To be clear, being approved and submitting a PMTAS to the agency couldn’t save any manufacturer from the ban. No manufacturer is allowed to sell, even in the country’s largest state. Even after CASSA, consumer group issued calls to action for its California members; there wasn’t any visible opposition to the flavour ban. More so, there was no participation by industry groups in the effort to gather signatures from registered voters.
