Trump’s exasperation about e-cigarettes led to his signing of the 2021 Omnibus Spending Bill recently passed by the congress, which includes a bill that restricts the sale and shipment of vape products, a move that will change the vape market for a long time.
The “Vape Mail Ban” which is written into the Omnibus Spending Bill as “Preventing Online Sales of E-cigarette to Children Act,” bans the mail delivery of vaping products and flavours in the U.S by the USPS, regardless of if they contain substances that causes a feeling of euphoria like nicotine.
This ban does so much more than ending the illegal delivery of vape products to under-aged persons. The new regulation will require shippers of quick pleasure-giving vaping substances (cannabis and nicotine) and other vaping product sellers to comply with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act compels strict regulations on retail vendors. Due to the recent development contained in the bill, retail vendors must:
• Register with the Federal Government tobacco tax officials of the state if such states require tax to mail vaping products.
• Send the data and transaction details (address of the buyer, type, and quantity of vaping product inclusive) of all buyers in the state to the tax official of the taxing state.
• Compile all needed state and local taxes, fixing all required tax stamps to the products sold.
• Validate the age of the buyers using an available and correct database to avoid selling to underage customers.
• Use shipping services that use the signature of an adult when the product is delivered before it is being released.
• Consistently maintain a record of at least five years of any “delivery interrupted” issued because the conveyance service employed has valid reasons to believe the ordering customer goes against the PACT Act.
• All vendors must register with the U.S Attorney General.
Vendors who do not act in compliance with the guiding rules involved in the “PACT” Act attract severe punishment, serving a 3-year term in prison inclusive.
This bill increases the cost of the shipment of vaping products and also imposes a stressful series of expensive paperwork on small retail vendors who mail vaping products, with an imprisonment threat for the negligible mistakes. The development has sparked controversies, including that of the members of the American Vaping Association, whose president in the person of Gregory Conley remarked that the law is designed to eliminate the sale of vaping products in the U.S.
The “Vaping Mail Ban” will take effect in 90 days. Private delivery services such as DHL, UPS, and FedEx are now required to check receivers’ IDs before the vape product is released. This can cause a decline in delivery as most adults would be at their workplaces as delivery is being carried out. Also, FedEx is reported to be set to cease the delivery of vaping products by March 2021.
CASSA calls for vape users to take action by signing a bill against this development to urge President Trump to reverse his decision on the ban.
