Vaping products have been a lightning rod of controversy ever since their popularity boomed in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, a plethora of misinformation and falsehoods has fueled a determined opposition to vaping across the country. Nearly every state has at least some form of ban or restriction on vaping products with more currently being pushed through local legislatures or being cooked up by activist groups. Here, we’re going to highlight some of the most important vaping restrictions by state. Some of these are measured and no-brainer policies mirroring those of tobacco products while others go far beyond what’s reasonable.
States with restrictions on sales to underage individuals.
This is a common-sense restriction everybody can get behind. In fact, every single state including the District of Colombia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands has laws on the books prohibiting the sale of vaping products to people underage. Some states have placed the minimum age at 21 while others have held it at 18. Regardless, there’s no state with a laissez-faire policy with regard to underage vaping which is something many anti-vapers aren’t aware of, but a policy everyone can get behind.
States that require retail licenses for e-cigarettes.
In total, 33 states require businesses to have a special retail license to sell e-cigarettes over the counter. These states are:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Washington
States with laws restricting indoor e-cigarette smoking.
Similar to smoke-free indoor air laws regarding traditional cigarettes, 17 states have laws restricting or outright banning the use of e-cigarettes indoors at bars, restaurants, and private worksites. These include:
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Vermont
States with online sales bans.
So far, the laws we’ve mentioned are barely controversial. Everyone agrees that there should be laws in place banning the sale of e-cigarettes to underage individuals, restricting the sale of products by unofficial or unlicensed retailers, and limiting the use of vaping products indoors. However, there are more and more restrictive policies being pushed such as banning online sales. All of the states below have laws in place keeping businesses from selling vaping products online, effectively eliminating the entire retail space.
- Arkansas
- Maine
- New York
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Vermont
States with flavor bans.
Perhaps the most over-the-top ban currently making its way across the country is an outright ban on flavored e-cigarettes. These laws are often pushed by activist groups as a means of protecting underage individuals from using vaping products when every state already makes underage sales illegal. In reality, this ban is a naked overreach by state governments in limiting what law-abiding adults can use. Here are the states with flavor bans right now:
- California
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- New York
- Rhode Island
The key takeaways of vaping restrictions.
There’s a lot to be said about the various vaping restrictions across the United States, but a few salient points stick out. First and foremost, there are already plenty of legal measures in place limiting the access and use under-age individuals have to e-cigarettes which contradicts what most people think.
Another important takeaway is that many states are going out of their way to push unreasonable restrictions on vaping products such as the banning of flavors and the restriction of online sales. Perhaps the most sinister realization is the growing trend of more suffocating rules and regulations. It seems the anti-vaping camp isn’t going to be happy until vaping is banned altogether.
Vaping restrictions are becoming increasingly restrictive and unconstitutional, limiting what law-abiding adults can sell and purchase. Currently, the livelihood of thousands of vaping retailers is under threat by activist groups and overreaching politicians. Join the Vaping Association of Retailers to fight against this breach of power and protect the rights of Oregonian business owners. Visit www.var21.org to see what you can do.
