Ban Needs Fixing

A Massachusetts judge on Monday said he would bar the state from enforcing its ban on nicotine vapor product sales unless several defects are addressed.

While declining to immediately halt the ban as requested by the Vapor Technology Association (VTA), Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Douglas Wilkins said the state must redo the ban and solicit public comment.

VTA Executive Director Tony Abboud said his organization regretted the ruling and would seek to block the ban, which the group has called an “existential threat” to the state’s $331 million nicotine vapor products sector.

In its lawsuit challenging the ban, the VTA argued that Baker’s emergency order was an unconstitutional overreach and was arbitrary as it claimed to target youth vaping and the outbreak by banning all sales to anyone in the state regardless of age.

Baker’s administration has until Oct. 28 to reissue the ban and provide vape shops and members of the public an opportunity to comment.