Virginia elected officials once again tweaked state law around electronic cigarettes, or vapes, this past winter. Meanwhile, the federal government expanded the number of vapes that could end up on Virginia shelves after the new law takes effect.
New rules by the Federal Drug Administration released this month aim to combat quote “illicit tobacco products in this country,” and they do so by expanding the number of approved vape products that can be sold in the US.
Legislation in Virginia aimed to curb vaping, or at least the number of stores selling dangerous, unregulated products, is set to go into effect this summer, and Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones says the federal and state efforts complement each other.
“The good news is FDA authorized products are eligible for inclusion on our product directory, and we’re excited because on July 1 it will become harder for minors to buy vapes than it ever has been before,” Jones said.
Virginia’s vape registry went into effect last year, but it relied on a list of FDA-approved vapes to help define which were and were not legal. Now, after much waiting, that list will help inform Virginia’s law. From there, Jones’s office and the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Authority, or ABC, will take over enforcement.
“We will maintain the directory and then continue to work with ABC through the enforcement perspective which we think is the right scheme to really make a meaningful impact to get these products off of children’s hands,” Jones said.
Virginia’s new vape law goes into effect July 1st.
