Learning about vape laws and how to protect children from nicotine

MARQUETTE COUNTY — On December 20, 2019, the President signed legislation to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and raise the federal minimum age of sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 years.

It is now illegal for a retailer to sell any tobacco product – including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes – to anyone under 21. This new legislation does not ban any of the products that are currently being sold at this time. The Trump administration is moving to remove one-time use flavored pods used in e-cigarettes like Juul, which are popular among young people, from the market. The new policy will not target vaping liquids used in other models to be sold in adult-only vape shops. Nicotine is a very addictive drug that is used in these products. The use of these products have seen an increase by youth. Therefore it is highly recommended to seek professional help if problems arise from children abusing nicotine products.

“So nicotine is a really hard addiction to break,” explained Sara H. Goza, MD, AAP President. “So we told parents that there are some behavior therapies that we can do. There is also a lot of good advice on healthychildren.org as well. But really we need parents to be vigilant and patient with our children as they try to kick this addiction. We have no real good way to treat children so our best defense is prevention.”

It is advised that parents talk to children on why they should not be using these kinds of products and the dangers of nicotine. The Centers for Disease Control did find that most of the illnesses that started encouraging bans across the country were due to people using e-cigarettes with THC adulterated with vitamin E acetate.