The Federal Government is about to finally crack down on vaping

Estimated Read Time: 5 Minutes

It’s no secret to anyone in the United States that vaping is a hot topic, both socially and politically. Within the past few years, the federal government along with several states have continuously produced different variations of new regulations and bans for the vaping and e-cigarette industry. These regulations have done everything from attempting to ban every vape with flavoring to raising the federal age to purchase vape products from 18 to 21 nationally. And with recent vaping related injuries and deaths (which all were later found to be black-market THC vapes) there is more pressure on the vape industry than ever. 

At the time of writing this, December 30th, 2020, Congress has just passed the Coronavirus Response And Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act which is the much anticipated 2nd wave of COVID-19 relief for American citizens and our beneficiaries. This behemoth 5,000+ page document caught the attention of many governmental leaders and news agencies and trended on social media due to “countries and private institutions getting billions, while every American gets $600.” It also raised significant attention when multiple congressional members publicly stated that they literally didn’t have time to read through the 5,000+ pages before voting on the matter. This media buzz than lead many more people to dive in to the thousands of pages of text, where even more odd government spending was exposed which in turn created even more hype. 

I am sure that many of you are familiar with the situation that I described above, but regardless of what your opinion on the matter is, one thing is clear; Politicians do these kinds of things on purpose. You might ask yourself, “why is all of this extra money allocated in a COVID relief bill?” and the simple answer to that is, politics. You see, politicians who worked together to draft, discuss and ratify this bill, all have special interests; the people who donated money to their campaigns in order to get them elected. Politicians are always on the lookout for new special interests to support and pass legislation for because they need campaign capital on a regular basis. And when something as big as this COVID relief bill comes up to the table, they pack it full of what their special interests want/need because they know that the bill is too big to fail and they can spin the angle that anyone against it is against helping the American people.

On top of this, there were many other things outlined in this bill. Namely, there were hundreds or possibly thousands of updates, changes and additions to regulations and federal laws. From my own research, they include everything from implementing a 10 year federal prison sentence for streaming pirated content to updating FAFSA requirements to collect more personal information from students and families applying to college. And also, on page 2,669 of the Coronavirus Response And Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, there is a short 4 page section, named the “Preventing Online Sale of E-Cigarettes to Children Act,” which adds a new term under what is legally classified as a cigarette (and thus must follow all federal laws under the Jenkins Act of 1949).

This new term being added to the definition of a cigarette under the Jenkins Act of 1949, Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (E.N.D.S), includes “e-cigarettes, e-hookah, e-cigar, vape pen, refillable vaporizer, electronic pipe or any component, liquid, part or accessory of any electronic device that through an aerosolized solution, delivers nicotine, flavor or any other substance to the user from inhaling through the device.” This will have huge implications on the entire vaping industry, if passed. By redefining vaping and grouping it all into E.N.D.S, all vaping, regardless if they contain nicotine or not, will be classified cigarettes and must follow their industry rules. 

            Whatever the outcome of this bill ultimately is, pending whether Congress wants to make any changes, it is clear that change is coming for the vaping industry. If it doesn’t pass this time, there will be plenty of opportunity for ratification during the 117th Congress starting in January 2021. The votes are there, and this will pass again. The biggest changes vape companies will need to make are to implement legitimate age verification for online purchases which check a purchaser’s name, birthday and shipping address against public records to confirm purchase eligibility, stay within the tobacco industry specific regulations and never use the USPS to mail any vape product.