The Great Vape Awakening

Legislative momentum continues to build for action against vaping in the wake of highly publicized deaths and illnesses vaguely attributed to the industry. Desperate to appear responsive to a purported public-health crisis, states including New York, Michigan, Washington, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Ohio, and California are moving to ban sales of certain e-cigarette products or have done so already. The legislative target has already moved subtly from black-market cannabis poisoning — the most likely culprit for these deaths — to the unrelated and heavily hyped “youth flavor-vaping epidemic.” Some cities have already banned flavored e-cigarettes.