Virginia has long been the epicenter of the tobacco industry, Now, two bills that would ban flavored vaping products have been filed with the state’s General Assembly.
Sponsors say Virginia should step in where Washington has been ineffective in blocking unregulated flavored e-cigarettes, such as Elf Bar disposables, off of store shelves.
The bills, House Bill 1069 and Senate Bill 550, call for a fine of $1,000 a day for each product sold that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not authorized to be marketed in the U.S.
The Attorney General would maintain a directory of legal products, much like Alabama and Louisiana. Products not listed in that directory could not be legally sold in Virginia.
The bill states any retailer and wholesaler that sells or distributes any liquid nicotine or nicotine vapor product in the state is subject to scheduled or unscheduled compliance checks carried out by the Attorney General’s Office for enforcement purposes.
Manufacturers must certify, in a filing with the Attorney General, that their product is covered by an FDA marketing authorization order, or is exempt from that because it was sold in the U.S. before 2016 or subject to a premarket tobacco product application dating from before 2020.
“It’s a public health issue,” said Del. Rodney Willett, who sponsored the House of Delegates bill.
“They’re targeting kids with the flavors,” he said, according to media reports. “When I walk into a convenience store, I’m just stunned by the number of these products that are for sale.”
The Singapore government said that the potential loss in revenue from tobacco tax was not a factor in its decision to ban the use of e-cigarettes in 2018.
In his reply to a question by a Workers’ Party and Sengkang Member of Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also the Minister for Finance, said, “The Government’s decision to ban the use of e-cigarettes in 2018 was based on public health considerations, to protect our population from the harms of these products. The potential loss in tobacco tax revenue from the reduced consumption of tobacco products was not a factor in this decision.”
… our priority is to protect the health of our population and prevent e-cigarettes from causing harm to our people, especially to younger Singaporeans.”
Lawrence Wong
Wong added that if the government were to legalize and tax e-cigarettes “the challenges would be similar to those we encounter for cigarettes and other tobacco products today.
“In any case, the government has no plans to change our current approach, as our priority is to protect the health of our population and prevent e-cigarettes from causing harm to our people, especially to younger Singaporeans.”
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin has again decried the Food and Drug Administration on its unacceptable failure to “protect children from the dangers of vaping” as the agency continues to miss and delay critical deadlines.
In a press release, Durbin stated that he has repeatedly criticized theFDA for its long-overdue review of premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) from e-cigarette manufacturers, which originally had a federal court deadline of September 9, 2021.
FDA has missed that court-ordered deadline by 28 months as unauthorized e-cigarettes flood the market.
During his speech, Durbin also called on the Biden Administration to swiftly implement a proposed public health rule to prohibit the production and retail sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.
“I know this President cares deeply about the toll of cancer. It has touched his family personally, as it has mine,” the Senator said. “If we want to make a difference in the health of Americans—and set a legacy for future generations—then the Administration must finalize this public health measure to end Big Tobacco’s predatory promotion of menthol cigarettes. Lives hang in the balance.”
The FDA stated in prior status reports for PMTAs that the agency would complete a review of 100 percent of the applications by the end of 2023. The agency is now estimating that completion of the reviews may be delayed as the FDA considers the D.C. Circuit’s opinion in Fontem US v. FDA, affirming in part and vacating and remanding in part marketing denial orders for certain vaping products.
The latest Nielsen report shows that the market share of R.J. Reynolds’ top-selling Vuse e-cigarette remained flat at 42 percent in December at convenience stores.
While Vuse’s market share was unchanged, No. 2 Juul dropped from 24.3 percent to 24.2 percent for the report covering the four-week period ending Dec. 30.
As recently as May 2019, Juul held a 74.6 percent share in the U.S. electronic cigarette market. That’s when a series of regulatory actions led to product-reduction concessions, according to media reports.
Meanwhile, Altria Group’s ownership of No. 3 NJoy hasn’t resulted in a meaningful market-share increase so far. Nielsen cited a research error by why it did not include an update for NJoy in the latest report. It was at 2.6 percent in the previous report.
Fontem Ventures’ blu eCigs, an affiliate of Imperial Brands Plc, was unchanged at 1.2 percent.
The overall e-cigarette category was down 9.9 percent.
Attorney General William Tong today filed seven new enforcement actions against wholesalers and retailers engaging in the distribution and sale of potent, illicit cannabis products in Connecticut.
Wholesalers include Shark Wholesale Corp. in Bridgeport, Star Enterprise 74, LLC, in New Britain, and RZ Smoke, Inc., in Suffield. The four retailers are Greenleaf Farms in New London, Smoker’s Corner in Norwich, Anesthesia Convenience & Smoke in New Haven, and Planet Zaza in East Haven.
In each instance, the Office of the Attorney General is alleging violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, which carries fines of up to $5,000 per violation, according to press release.
“Cannabis is legal for adults in Connecticut, but it’s not a free-for-all—retailers must be licensed and legal cannabis products must comply with strict safety standards. Today, we are suing seven businesses—three wholesalers and four retailers– who have sold potent, high-THC cannabis products in violation of Connecticut laws,” said Tong. “None of these products have been subject to Connecticut’s rigorous testing standards or contain appropriate warnings.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong
“Some are sold in dangerous and misleading packaging designed to appeal to children. These products are designed to deceive consumers into believing they are safe, tested, and regulated—that is false. We have multiple active investigations into additional retailers and wholesalers, and we will keep the heat on so long as these dangerous, illegal products are sold.”
Residents over age 21 can legally possess and consume cannabis in Connecticut. Cannabis products may only be sold in the regulated market and must meet rigorous testing and packaging requirements. Cannabis products sold outside of the regulated market continue to be illegal and may subject sellers to civil and criminal penalties.
Despite that, the sale of illegal delta-8 and delta-9 cannabis products and other high-THC cannabis products continues in Connecticut, according to Tong.
In unannounced visits to vape shops and gas stations, investigators from the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Consumer Protection continue to routinely find illegal cannabis products for sale, including blunts, marijuana flower, and edibles mimicking popular youth-oriented snack foods, including Fritos, Skittles, Airheads, and more.
Illegal look-alike cannabis products pose a unique health threat to children, who may unknowingly ingest high doses of potent psychoactive chemicals. In the regulated adult-use market, edible cannabis products may only be sold in containers that contain a maximum of 100 milligrams of total THC and 5 milligrams of total THC per serving size. Children who accidentally eat an entire snack-sized bag of “chips” or “candy” may be exposed to more than 100 times the maximum adult serving.
Since 2021, the Connecticut Poison Control Center has received 400 calls regarding cannabis exposure in children, including 181 children under the age of 6 exposed to cannabis edibles. The majority of those cases required treatment at a health care facility.
Greenleaf Farms New London
Greenleaf Farms is a CBD retailer in New London with no license to sell cannabis products in Connecticut. Despite that, investigators from both the Department of Consumer Protection and Office of the Attorney General on multiple visits discovered numerous illegal high-THC products for sale, including potent edibles designed to look like children’s cereal. Greenleaf Farms also offered for sale marijuana “blunts,” which were offered in various THC concentrations.
The products lacked a variety of required warning statements and labels, and do not appear to be produced by licensed facilities or tested in accordance with state law.
Further, Greenleaf Farms represented itself as a licensed dispensary in the sign shared below despite lacking such a license.
Smoker’s Corner
Smoker’s Corner is a smoke shop in Norwich with no license to sell cannabis products in Connecticut. During multiple visits, an investigator from the Office of the Attorney General observed illegal high-THC edibles for sale. Further, after the investigator asked if there was any “pot” available for purchase, a Smoker’s Corner employee retrieved a mason jar full of marijuana flower from a back room. The employee then weighed the marijuana on a scale, bagged it, and sold it to the Office of the Attorney General’s investigator. The cannabis products lacked required warnings and labels, did not appear to be produced by licensed facilities or tested in accordance with state law, according to Tong.
Anesthesia Convenience & Smoke
Anesthesia Convenience & Smoke is a smoke shop in New Haven that is not licensed to sell cannabis in Connecticut. On multiple unannounced visits, investigators from the Department of Consumer Protection and Office of the Attorney General observed thousands of high-THC products, including those more potent than any product available in the regulated cannabis market. Products included potent edibles, as well as marijuana flower. The cannabis products lacked required warnings and labels, did not appear to be produced by licensed facilities or tested in accordance with state law, according to Tong.
Planet Zaza
Planet Zaza is a smoke shop located in East Haven with no license to sell cannabis in Connecticut. Investigators with the Department of Consumer Protection and Office of the Attorney General inspected the store on multiple dates, finding numerous high-THC cannabis edibles for sale more potent than any authorized for sale in Connecticut.
Further, investigators discovered unauthorized labels, including fake prescription labels falsely indicating that the store is a licensed dispensary and that the illegal products were medical-use cannabis. The products did not appear to be produced in a licensed facility or tested in accordance with state law, according to Tong.
Wholesalers: RZ Smoke, Star Enterprise, and Shark Wholesale
Star Enterprise is a New Britain-based smoke and vape wholesale business. Shark Wholesale is based in Bridgeport. RZ Smoke is a New York-based smoke and vape wholesale business with a warehouse in Suffield. These wholesalers each supply illicit cannabis products to retailers throughout Connecticut. All three provide products packaged in a manner that deceives consumers into reasonably believing they are purchasing cannabis products from Connecticut’s legal, regulated market. In fact, each wholesaler offered highly potent products far in excess of allowable serving sizes and THC levels.
Star’s products contained THC levels 35-times the maximum permissible in Connecticut’s regulated cannabis market, as well as serving sizes at least five times the maximum allowed. Further, the packages were labeled in such a way as to appeal to youth, including brand names and packaging identical or similar to non-cannabis snacks. Shark’s products contained THC levels 15-times the maximum limit, and serving sizes six times the maximum legal serving size. RZ Smoke’s products contained THC levels 10-times the maximum allowed, with serving sizes five times over the legal limit. Their products were also designed to mimic existing names and packaging of non-cannabis snacks, according to Tong.
Ongoing Cannabis Enforcement Actions
“Today’s filings follow a series of enforcement and educational actions taken by Attorney General Tong to combat the sale of illegal cannabis in Connecticut, including high-THC delta-8 and delta-9 edibles. Last year, Attorney General Tong sent warning letters to all Connecticut licensed retailers of electronic vaping products advising them that sale of delta-8 THC by unlicensed retailers may be illegal,” the release states.
The Office of the Attorney General now has 10 pending enforcement actions, and has secured judgments against four additional Connecticut retailers totaling $40,000 for alleged violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act over the sale of illegal delta-8 THC products.
A portion of the payments will be suspended if the retailers comply with terms of the judgment, including ceasing all sales of illegal cannabis. Additional investigations are active and ongoing. Last week, Tong issued a cease and desist letter to HighBazaar organizers that its unlicensed cannabis marketplace appears to violate multiple state statutes. An additional letter was sent to the Masonic Temple Day Spring Lodge in Hamden, which currently hosts the market, according to Tong.
The city of Hallowell seeks to become the latest community in Maine to ban the sale of flavored vaping and other tobacco products.
Monday night, the city held a public hearing on an ordinance that would do exactly that. During the meeting, 300 signatures supporting the flavored tobacco ban were delivered to the council, according to local media.
During the hearing, people argued both for and against the ban, with those against saying the city should be looking at the bigger picture and consider enacting a smoking ban citywide. Those in favor cited not only the negative health effects, but also that it’s intentionally marketed to young people.
If Hallowell does pass a ban, they will join the towns Falmouth, Portland, South Portland, Brunswick, Bangor and Bar Harbor in passing similar bans on selling flavored tobacco products.
After conducting its year-end alcohol compliance check last week, Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said his office is requesting that the Nevada Attorney General’s Office include vaping and other tobacco products that businesses shouldn’t be selling to minors in future stings.
The CCSO’s school resource officers, in conjunction with Partnership Carson City, held their final sting on Dec. 28 to ensure local businesses aren’t selling alcoholic beverage products to minors.
The compliance check was held with the support of three volunteers aged 16 to 18 who were sent to screen eight local businesses. Only one failed.
Furlong told the Nevada Appeal his request for expansion is to acquire greater resources to keep vaping and tobacco products from being easily accessible to teens in storefronts.
“I have instructed our team to proceed and coordinate with the AG’s office and determine if we can likewise add vaping and tobacco with the alcohol,” Furlong said. “(The businesses) would get a citation.”
Furlong said he hoped to hear soon from the Attorney General’s Office on the compliance checks, which are conducted every six to eight weeks.
The Supreme Court of the United States has rejected R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s bid to challenge a voter-approved ban on flavored vaping and other tobacco products in California, the most populous state in the U.S.
The justices rejected an appeal by R.J. Reynolds, a unit of British American Tobacco, and other plaintiffs of a lower court’s ruling holding that California’s law did not conflict with a federal statute regulating tobacco products.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who defended the law in court, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, called the Supreme Court’s decision “excellent news.”
“We look forward to continuing to fight to prevent addiction and protect the health of our people,” Bonta said, Reuters reports.
R.J. Reynolds declined to comment.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020 signed into law a ban on all flavored tobacco products – including menthol cigarettes and cotton candy-flavored vaping products – in response to concerns about a rise in e-cigarette and tobacco use by teenagers.
The ban’s implementation was delayed after a tobacco industry coalition gathered enough signatures to put to voters a ballot measure that would block California from becoming the largest state to ban flavored tobacco product sales. But nearly two-thirds of voters casting ballots on the measure known as Proposition 31 approved the sales ban in November 2022.
The law made California the second state to ban all flavored tobacco product sales after Massachusetts in 2019. Several other states have restricted flavored vaping products and several municipalities have adopted their own bans.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 banned all flavors except tobacco and menthol in Juul and other cartridge-based e-cigarettes. In 2022, the FDA sought to ban sales of all Juul e-cigarettes, though it later put the order on hold.
Beyond vaping, the FDA in April 2022 proposed banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. Those rules have yet to be finalized and have been the subject of lobbying by tobacco groups.
A day after the California vote, R.J. Reynolds along with a group representing tobacco retailers, the Neighborhood Market Association, and a vape shop, filed a lawsuit arguing the federal Tobacco Control Act, which the FDA enforces, preempts state and local laws that bar flavored tobacco product sales.
But a federal judge ruled those arguments were foreclosed by an earlier decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a similar ban in Los Angeles County.
The 9th Circuit upheld the judge’s ruling on California’s law in June, after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier in 2023 declined to hear an appeal of the Los Angeles ruling.
R.J. Reynolds had previously unsuccessfully asked the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the California law from taking effect while it pursued its appeals. The justices rejected that request in December 2022.
A bill aimed at prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products on Guam was withdrawn after the public hearing did not move forward.
Due to lawmakers spending a large amount of time discussing Bill 175-37, which proposes changes to Guam’s Toilet Facilities and Sewage Disposal Act, the next scheduled public hearing for Bill 50-37 had been withdrawn by its sponsor, Sen. Thomas Fisher.
Bill 50 sought to prohibit the sale of flavored vaping and other tobacco products on Guam, according to media reports.
Fisher explained he withdrew Bill 50 to make changes after receiving information from the American Cancer Society.
Fisher further intended to refile the bill immediately with the hope of having a public hearing on the bill Jan. 11.
Last year, lawmakers in Guam proposed to impose a 10 percent excise tax on all vape products for the first year, and then raise it to 20 percent on the second year.
Guam currently has no standardized tax regulations for what the bill describes as electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS).
The chairman of the Consumer Protection Authority states that a fine of up to OMR 2,000 ($5,196) for multiple violations will be imposed on anyone who trades in e-cigarettes, shisha, and their accessories in the Sultanate of Oman.
His Excellency Sulayem bin Ali Al-Hakmani issued Ministerial decision No. 756/2023 on Sunday, January 7, 2024, creating the ban, according to media reports.
Article One stipulates that the circulation of e-cigarettes, shisha, and their accessories is prohibited.
Article Two states that, “without prejudice to the penal penalties stipulated in the aforementioned Consumer Protection Law, an administrative fine not exceeding OMR1,000 shall be imposed on anyone who violates the provisions of this decision, and the fine shall be doubled in the event of a repeat violation.
“If this violation continues, an administrative fine of OMR 50 will be imposed for each day that the violation continues, provided that its total does not exceed OMR 2,000. The seized quantities of electronic cigarettes, shishas, and their accessories will be destroyed in accordance with the controls in force at the Consumer Protection Authority.”
The new bill also repealed an earlier Resolution (No. 698/2015), as well as any laws or rules that contravene the current resolution or conflict with its provisions.
It also stipulates that the decision “shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall be effective from the day following the date of its publication.”
After conducting its year-end alcohol compliance check last week, Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said his office is requesting that the Nevada Attorney General’s Office include vaping and other tobacco products that businesses shouldn’t be selling to minors in future stings.
