Massachusetts sues South Florida vaping companies for violating flavored-product ban
Young people in Massachusetts might have to look for new retailers if they want to continue purchasing “Unicorn Frappe,” “Rainbow Nuggets” or “Gingerbread Dude” flavored vaping products sold online by two Florida companies.
Though Florida lawmakers have yet to pass an overhaul of regulations on the state’s burgeoning vaping industry in light of national public health scrutiny on vaping products, online retailers based in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are facing heat from public officials nearly 1,500 miles away who are taking them to court for products sold in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey on Monday announced that her office has filed a complaint against eight online vaping retailers — two based in South Florida — saying they illegally sold and delivered flavored tobacco products to Massachusetts residents in violation of a state law passed last month that banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products including e-cigarettes and e-liquids.
“These companies are in flagrant violation of our new state law that was put in place to protect young people from the serious harms caused by vaping,” Healey said in a statement. “Our state has been a leader in fighting this public health crisis, and we will continue to go after companies that ignore our laws and put young people at risk.”
The two Florida companies named in the complaint are Ejuiceconnect.com, LLC, registered in Oakland Park, and Fuggin Vapor Co., which is based in Miami-Dade and has a retail store in Miami Beach. Owners listed for the companies did not immediately return requests for comment on the litigation Tuesday.
Healey’s office says the companies do not use a method of mailing, shipping or delivery of the tobacco products that requires signatures from a person of legal age before the package is released, as is required by state regulations.
Gregory Conley, president of the pro-vaping interest group American Vaping Association, said that online vaping retailers tend to be focused on national legal requirements when making sales “and it may take several months for them to actually learn that Massachusetts has banned the sale of all flavored vaping products.”
“The reality is that those companies that are now being sued will stop shipping their products to Massachusetts, but that’s certainly not going to put an end to Massachusetts consumers continuing to figure out ways to get the products they want,” Conley said.
The idea that vaping bans and regulations will serve only to push consumers to the black market is a common criticism from vaping advocates and some public health experts, especially as the lung injuries that raised alarms across the country over the summer have been more strongly tied to black market products.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an update on the lung injury outbreak associated with vaping, saying new laboratory data has strongly tied the injuries to vitamin E acetate, an additive found in black market THC products that has been identified in lung fluid samples of vaping injury patients.
Florida Rep. Nick Duran, a Miami Democrat who has filed legislation to regulate the vaping industry in Florida, said that driving people to the black market is a concern, but he has heard directly from his constituents that they want lawmakers to take a tough stance against vaping products that are appealing to Florida’s youth.
Even if the more regulated products aren’t causing the lung injuries, Duran said, that doesn’t change the fact that high school-aged children are becoming addicted to tobacco products at rates he described as alarming.
“Our first and most important concern is that we’re protecting children and young adults,“ Duran said.
The lawmaker said he plans to file legislation in the 2020 session that would tax vaping products the same way cigarettes are taxed.
This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 3:28 PM.
