Bans on Life-Saving Harm Reduction Products Leads to More Problems

Lindsey Stroud

Right before the world was transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States was seemingly dealing with another so-called “epidemic” of vaping-related lung injuries. As quickly as this vaping “epidemic” came into attention, it dissipated, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting in February 2020 that cases were declining “after sharply increasing in August 2019 and peaking September.”

Unfortunately for adult users of tobacco harm reduction products, policymakers – armed with misinformation from anti-tobacco and vaping organizations – blamed all vapes and moved to restrict the sales of flavored vapor products. The CDC would eventually determine that most of the vaping-related lung injuries were attributed to black market products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Not that it mattered. As of February 2022, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island have banned flavored vapor products, Massachusetts has banned both flavored tobacco and vapor products, and voters in California will decide in November if the Golden State too will join Massachusetts.

While the spat of lung injuries was touted to justify statewide bans, anti-tobacco organizations had been actively pushing localized flavor bans, which may have led to more increases of vaping-related lung injuries.

For example, 11 states reported 100 or more cases of vaping-related lung injuries; five of these states (Massachusetts, Minnesota, California, New York, and Illinois) were states with local flavor bans in effect. Of the 11 states reporting 1 to 9 cases of vaping-related lung injuries, only two had local flavor bans in effect (Colorado and Rhode Island). Localized flavor bans were also associated with a greater chance of a vaping-related death. Six of the seven states reported vaping-related deaths including three deaths in Minnesota, four in California and New York, and five deaths each in Illinois and Massachusetts.

Unfortunately for adult users of tobacco harm reduction products, policymakers – armed with misinformation from anti-tobacco and vaping organizations – blamed all vapes and moved to restrict the sales of flavored vapor products. The CDC would eventually determine that most of the vaping-related lung injuries were attributed to black market products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Not that it mattered. As of February 2022, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island have banned flavored vapor products, Massachusetts has banned both flavored tobacco and vapor products, and voters in California will decide in November if the Golden State too will join Massachusetts.

While the spat of lung injuries was touted to justify statewide bans, anti-tobacco organizations had been actively pushing localized flavor bans, which may have led to more increases of vaping-related lung injuries.

For example, 11 states reported 100 or more cases of vaping-related lung injuries; five of these states (Massachusetts, Minnesota, California, New York, and Illinois) were states with local flavor bans in effect. Of the 11 states reporting 1 to 9 cases of vaping-related lung injuries, only two had local flavor bans in effect (Colorado and Rhode Island). Localized flavor bans were also associated with a greater chance of a vaping-related death. Six of the seven states reported vaping-related deaths including three deaths in Minnesota, four in California and New York, and five deaths each in Illinois and Massachusetts.

The federal government’s actions have also led to a swarm of unregulated vapor products. In September 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publicly applauded itself or denying premarket tobacco product applications to 946,000 flavored vaping e-liquids that had been on the market since at least August, 2016. In a statement, then acting-FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock noted that removing flavored e-cigarettes was an “appropriate action to protect [the] nation’s youth.”

If anything, the denial of so many existing products only opened up the market to new, unregulated products from China that are causing issues among young adult users. An 18 year old from Tennessee made international news when a “fake disposable” caused a reaction that led to pneumonia. Another 20-year-old claimed on Facebook that they had been diagnosed with vaping-related lung injuries after “vaping … mostly disposables.”

Unregulated disposables are the consequences of the January 2020 ban on flavored pods. According to the CDC, sales of mint and flavored pods decreased between 2019 and 2020, while sales of disposable vapor products in the same flavors increased. And unfortunately for users, many are unregulated.

The anti-tobacco and vaping groups should be applauded for their efforts in reducing youth use of such products. However, they should also accept responsibility for the consequences of black-market products infiltrating newly established markets where flavored vapes are banned for legal retail sale. Bans will always lead to a black market and have only created more problems for both youth and adult consumers of tobacco harm reduction products.

Originally published in Townhall.