Just like nearly everything the feds try to do to interfere with our lives, the vape crackdown is doing the same to businesses. And while I agree with my blogging sister Jodi that vaping looks, well, weird, I also fiercely stand for the free market. Shops should be able to sell a legal product, unless, of course, Congress has passed legislation outlawing it. Which infers the will of the people is accomplished.

But that, as Jodi pointed out, did not happen in the case of flavored vapes. Led by President Trump, the feds now plan to finalize a “compliance” policy which would ban flavored vapes. Now you know that when the feds use the word “compliance,” it really means they’ll come down on your ass like Thor’s hammer if you sell such things. According to Health and Human Secretary Alex Azar:

“The Trump Administration is making it clear that we intend to clear the market of flavored e-cigarettes to reverse the deeply concerning epidemic of youth e-cigarette use that is impacting children, families, schools and communities.”

In other words, it’s for the children!

Credit:  giphy.com.

But did the feds think of the adults? Of course not, but the feds do love a nanny state which sees all us grownups as children anyway.

Thus, the adults who run vape shops are worried that the feds will close their businesses. Never mind that lots of people who vape are adults. As a matter of fact, one Chicago vape shop owner said that most of his customers are in their 50’s and 60’s. One of them was a man who used vaping to get off a two-pack-day smoking habit:

“I’m 57 years old, and I’m not supposed to like pineapple or blueberry or apple flavor?”

In fact, the most recent vaping death, which occurred in Kansas, involved a 50-year-old user who succumbed to lung disease, but who also had underlying health issues.

Now vape shops nationwide worry that they may go out of business, which, of course, also causes unemployment. One Chicago-area shop owner, who owns nine vape stores, says he has over 40 employees who will lose their jobs. Now consider that there are some 600 vape shops in Illinois alone.

In Boston one shop is closing since most of their product line contains flavored vapes. Another vape store will move in, but they’ll sell only tobacco-flavored product. Plus, they’ll also sell cancer-causing tobacco products. Ironic, isn’t it?

Vape shop owners in Virginia say the feds ban will make them “suffer massively” and possibly make them “go out of business.” Another shop owner in Alabama says that this proposed ban is “overreach.”

“It’s going to close 10,000 shops and 110,000 people are going to be out of work, and that doesn’t include the manufacturers and distributors. The government is overreaching.”

But the nanny state feds don’t even know what’s in the vapes that seems to be killing some people, since no specific substance has been linked to the deaths. Some of the lung patients admitted to using the cannnabinoid THC in their vapes. Some of the vapes with THC also contain Vitamin E acetate, which also seems to be associated with the deaths.

Besides, as the Food and Drug Administration said:

“While the FDA does not have enough data presently to conclude that Vitamin E acetate is the cause of the lung injury in these cases, the agency believes it is prudent to avoid inhaling this substance.”

Furthermore, some of the THC additives may have come from street sales. As a vape shop owner in Portland, OR, said:

“The CDC has said to people not to vape. But that doesn’t take into account that this … is a black market THC problem. And attempting to bootstrap into a negative opinion of e-cigarettes, seems a bit dishonest to me.”

Another Oregon vape store owner wonders if dangers arise from people trying to create their own home-brew vapes. Consider, too, that cannabis is already legal in Oregon, and she may have a point.

But the feds don’t bother to investigate these issues. Instead they’ll drop the hammer on small business owners and adults who sell and purchase a legal product.

It’s somewhat like gun ownership, isn’t it? Because we have to think of the children.

Featured image: fotografierende/pexels/cropped/free to use.