Proposal would end flavored vape, nicotine pouch, and menthol sales in Washington state

Some Washington state lawmakers want to end the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine products, saying they stand to hook kids on products such as vapes and menthol cigarettes for life.

Two Democrats — State Senator T’wina Nobles and State Representative Kristine Reeves — introduced the legislation in September. This week, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal put his support behind the legislation, saying that vaping is rampant in public schools.

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“It's growing amongst middle school kids, which is alarming, and our districts are spending a lot of resources, both in staff time — trying to, you know, get kids to do the right thing and prevention — and then, I mean, they're spending money on vape detection systems in bathrooms," Reykdal said.

Reykdal believes vape sellers are targeting youth with "smart vapes" that have built-in video games, which the legislation, in its draft form, would also ban.

Almost 8% of high school students in the state use vapes, according to the national Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The Centers for Disease Control reported this year that e-cigarette use among youth was the lowest in a decade.

“It's an unsubstantiated panic,” said Tony Abboud, the executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, an industry group. “The reality is that the youth vaping rate in this country has been dropping since both Washington state and the federal government in 2020 raised the age to purchase all tobacco products to 21 … this is a solution in search of a problem.”

Abboud said Washington state would also lose hundreds of millions in sales and business taxes if flavored tobacco sales were banned.

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While most of the discussion around the proposal is related to youth, the legislation would end sales of flavored tobacco products to adults. Clove cigarettes and nicotine pouches, such as increasingly-popular Zyns, would be banned from sale (if flavored), but not products that are approved by the FDA for cessation of smoking, such as flavored nicotine gum or patches.

“What we know is that over eight in 10 youth start nicotine consumption on a flavored product, whether that is a flavored cigarette, like a menthol product, or a flavored vape product,” said Andrew Estep, campaign manager for Flavors Hook Kids Washington, the campaign to pass this legislation. “The consumption of smokeless products such as Zyns have been increasing at a rapid rate, and is a lot of the same thing that we've seen at the advent of the JUUL era, when that was taking off … this is the place that youth are starting their nicotine journey.”

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