San Fran vapor ban upheld by major majority of voters; deadly combustibles still being sold

San Francisco’s upcoming ban on the sale of e-cigarettes will remain in place, as voters soundly rejected a ballot measure Tuesday that would have overturned the prohibition approved by the Board of Supervisors in June. The city will still allow sales of combustible cigarettes.

According to a story posted on sfchronicle.com, Proposition C was losing by 4-1. The measure would have allowed the sale of vaping devices and nicotine cartridges with some new restrictions. It would have limited the number of vaping products a person could buy to two devices and five packs of cartridges per transaction in brick-and-mortar stores, and two devices and 60 milliliters of nicotine liquid each month online.

The measure also would have required online sellers to apply for a permit, similar to what brick-and-mortar stores must do.

The regulations would have taken the place of the outright sales ban on e-cigarettes that supervisors approved to combat the rise in teen vaping. The legislation, slated to take effect in January, suspends the sale of e-cigarettes that have not passed a Food and Drug Administration review — which includes all e-cigarettes now on the market. But the ban may not be permanent; it would be lifted for any e-cigarettes that eventually pass FDA review.

Prop. C — dubbed “An Act to Prevent Youth Use of Vapor Products” — was this election’s big-ticket item from the start. It was sponsored by the San Francisco vaping company Juul, in an attempt to stave off the ordinance that would prohibit the company from selling its products in its own hometown.