Home Politics America Connecticut Bills Aim to Restrict Vape Sales and Ban Flavours

Connecticut Bills Aim to Restrict Vape Sales and Ban Flavours

Bills introduced in the General Assembly by Connecticut lawmakers, plan to restrict where vaping products can be sold and also set in place a ban on flavours, with the aim of preventing teen vaping.

Diane Caruana

January 14, 2021

The proposed rules include a ban on the sale of nicotine products in pharmacies, and within five miles of schools, and a ban on flavoured vaping products.

State Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, a physician who is vice chairman of the legislative Public Health Committee, is among the local lawmakers who are striving to reduce teen access to vaping products across the state.

The proposed legislations include a ban on the sale of nicotine products in pharmacies, and within five miles of schools, and a ban on flavoured vaping products. Some of the proposed amendments also include outright bans on refillable e-cigarettes and other vaping products.

“Many of the children are facing life-long addictions and we must do something,” said Anwar. “In some of the pharmacies, they will walk through areas where there are cigarettes and other products that are not safe for their health and well-being. This is unethical. We have data that the lifespan of a child is determined by the distance from a tobacco outlet from their schools,” he added.

Certain municipalities across the state of New York, including New York City and Albany County, have already imposed similar bans, and tobacco products were voluntarily removed from CVS pharmacies in 2014. Moreover, in 2019 there was talk of a similar legislation making its way through Capitol, this would have prohibited the sale of vaping products in pharmacies, and retailers that operate pharmacies, across the state.

Vape mail restrictions

Another bill proposed for Connecticut would require anyone purchasing vaping products online to present an ID in order to verify their age, on delivery. A similar nationwide bill, S 1253: “Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act,” has recently passed the house, and signed into law by President Trump on the 27th of December. This bill bans all shipments of vaping products by the US Postal Service, and forces all other postal delivery services (such as UPS, FedEx, or DHL) to check IDs and obtain signatures of adults at points of delivery.

Read Further: Stamford Advocate