Louisiana regulators this month released their list of nearly 400 approved vaping products that can be sold in the state in the wake of a new law that raises taxes on such products and aims to protect minors from inexpensive, disposable e-cigarettes.
The state’s Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control posted the list of vapor and alternative nicotine products on its website after a 19th Judicial District Court judge rejected the Louisiana Convenience and Vape Association’s call for a temporary restraining order to bar the office from restricting vape product sales. The outcome of the association’s lawsuit filed, however, will ultimately determine the fate of the new law, House Bill 635.
That measure provided for an increase in taxes on vapor products from 5 cents per milliliter of consumable nicotine to 15 cents per milliliter. It also provides for increased resources to enforce new vaping product restrictions and requires the maintenance of a directory of all vaping products that have been certified for sale in the state and have received federal Food and Drug Administration authorizations.
Gregory Conley, the legislative and external affairs director for the American Vapor Manufacturers Association, said Louisiana’s new regime covering vaping products presents a threat to convenience stores and other retailers.
“It is going to be disastrous for public health, small businesses or both depending on the level of enforcement," Conley told the Louisiana Record.
Louisiana merchants who try to comply with the regulations by registering as sellers of vape-products feel they are being punished because they are subject to regular audits while the vape merchants who don’t register seem to be left alone, he said.
“They express their frustration that if you register to be a tax-collecting entity, you'll get audited every three months, six months, a year, however much,” Conley said.
Opponents of the new regulations argue that reducing access to vaping products in Louisiana will hurt public health in the state, which has one of the highest smoking rates in the nation (23.1%, according to the American Lung Association). Having fewer vaping products means that fewer adult smokers may be able to transition to e-cigarettes, which pose lower health risks than traditional cigarettes, according to Conley.
“Youth vaping, the supposed reason why we had to pass this law, has declined from 27% of high schoolers having used (vaping products) in the past 30 days to 10%,” he said.
In 2019, 4.5 million adult former smokers had turned to vaping, but today that figure is up to 6.5 million, according to Conley. In the meantime, youth vaping has dropped by 60%, suggesting that fears of more young people experimenting with vaping may be overblown, he said.
HB 635 also provides for digital age-verification methods for the sale of vaping products, as well as daily fines of $1,000 for manufacturers of such products who violate the provisions of the new law. Other violations of the law will result in fines of $500 per offense, according to the Legislature’s analysis of the measure.
Cigarette companies, such as Atria, have been pushing for increased state regulation of disposable vaping products, which in turn have cut into the profits of the tobacco companies, according to Conley.