Lawmakers have asked the Food and Drug Administration to ban sales of the fast-growing e-cigarette brand Puff Bar, which has become the vaping device of choice among young people through aggressive marketing targeted to that vulnerable age group. Puff Bar gets around the partial FDA ban on some flavored vapes because it is a disposable device—used once and then thrown away—and thereby falls outside the regulations.
Banning sales is critical because Puff Bar blatantly exploits young people with flavors such as pink lemonade and watermelon, and its latest ads appeal to teens stuck at home during the pandemic lockdown. Puff Bar is so popular—with sales of more than 300,000 sticks per week—it is becoming “the new Juul,” the brand that started the vaping boom with its sleek products and slick ads. The call to ban Puff Bar is part of a continuing effort to curb the teen vaping epidemic and e-cigarette use, which has more than doubled among high schools students over the past two years.
It comes amid ongoing concerns over vaping-related illnesses and deaths, and the negative impact of vaping on Covid-19 patients who have severe respiratory complications. It’s time for the FDA to take a more pro-active stance against vaping, especially products deliberately designed to hook teens.
And finally, one purported benefit of marijuana legalization was supposed to be ending the black market for pot. But in California, that hasn’t been the case. In fact, with illicit sales of $8.3 billion compared to $3.1 billion for legal weed, the state is now considering hiring more cannabis cops to patrol the illegal market.