If we’re not going to ban vaping in the United States — and we’re not — then it’s time we start treating the industry like any other.
Some may consider it a vice and say we don’t need more vices. After all, 34 countries outlaw e-cigarettes, including India, Thailand, Singapore, Brazil and Mexico, although Mexico’s ban is being challenged in the courts.
But we already sell all manner of vices in this country — including some that are demonstrably worse for us than vaping — and we continue to be a productive, prosperous society. Many smokers use vaping to get off of tobacco — another recognized and documented societal benefit.
On top of that, the industry employs 100,000 people, pays billions in wages and benefits, and seeks to move all its production to the United States, as President Trump has encouraged other industries to do. Outlawing flavored vapes would cost tens of thousands of Americans their jobs and force thousands of small businesses to close almost immediately.
Most importantly, what business does the federal government have in telling American adults that they’re not allowed to vape? A nanny state isn’t freedom.
We’re not talking about selling or even marketing to kids. The industry acknowledges its products are for adults only and worked with the federal government to implement a ban on sales to anyone younger than 21.
We are talking about a product that doesn’t harm others, helps many escape tobacco addiction, and employs hundreds of thousands of people. In addition, the market is too established — outlawing vapes now will create a black market that makes it harder to control product quality and safety or to control for age restrictions.
Instead we are going in the opposite direction.
In Pennsylvania, two workers at a vape shop were arrested recently, and the owner said he didn’t even know what the charges would be. In central Texas, 65 officers from six agencies descended on seven vape shops, and the owners there say they seized products that are legal and effectively put them out of business.
Alabama’s state bureau of investigation raided vape stores in Troy, Enterprise, Clanton, Wetumpka, and Montgomery, and vape shop owners have sued claiming they can’t tell what is legal because the law is so vague.
The answer is not to drive the industry underground but to let it have the space it needs to sell the products its customers want.
President Trump seems to understand this. He saved the industry in 2019 by pushing for the 21 age limit. He promised to work with the industry to undo President Biden’s regulatory assault. And he has said he supports the industry having the room it needs to work.
State regulators do not seem to be on the same page, and they should be.
It’s time for the president to take charge on this issue and send a clear signal that the industry should not be suffocated by regulation. Not everyone likes their products, but many do – and given the products are legal, they should be able to use them within the law.
We have a lot of challenges government needs to be working to meet; taking down the vape industry is not one of them.
Brian McNicoll is a freelance writer based in Alexandria, Virginia, a former senior writer for The Heritage Foundation, and former director of communications for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Image: Free image, Pixabay license.