President Trump now seems open to the idea that vaping nicotine e-liquid is not โkilling peopleโ and the idea of banning Vaping Products across the United States on a federal level seems to be in question.
Trump stated in a recent press conference:ย โThe one thing I see, when you watch prohibition, you look at the alcohol, cigarettes, you look at all. ย ย If you donโt give it to them it’s going to come here illegally.ย Instead of legitimate companiesโฆ they are going to be selling stuff on the street corner that could be horrible.โ
President Donald Trump held a meeting with both vaping advocates and health professionals to determine the correct course of action regarding the regulations of vaping in the United States.
Harold Wimmer, president of the American Lung Association was in the meeting with the president and suggested โadvocating that all flavored e-cigarettes including mint and menthol are cleared from the marketplace.ย What really resonated for me (and the AMA) was all the health professionals were united.โ
What is likely to happen after this meeting is a minimum age increase to 21 federally, meaning anywhere in the United States no one will legally be able to purchase any vaping products, whether hardware or e-liquid, under the age of 21.
Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association stated that in the meeting โThere was unanimityโฆ that the age to vape and smoke should be raised to 21.โย To this agreement, Trump stated โI agreeโ and leaned toward the US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and added, โWeโre going to do thatโ.
The concern according to Abboud is that โthe public health officials were virtually silentโ regarding any other restriction proposals (outside of outright bans).ย He continued:ย โThis is the fundamental problem we have.ย They (public health officials) simply want a ban and nothing short of a ban and bans donโt workโ.
We at Canada Vapes agree in full that banning or restricting any legally obtained product from society will simply lead to low-quality and potentially dangerous products becoming available in the black market illegally.ย Prohibition has never worked in the past, and there is nothing to suggest it would work in the future.ย Stiffer government fines for selling to minors along with strict restrictions on advertising, especially any advertising targeting youth, would be much more effective practices to reduce the youthโs access to vaping products.
Banning vaping products may do nothing but increase the โcoolโ factor for many teens, similar to pot being illegal and therefore more โrebelliousโ an act.
