Summary
The Supreme Court is reviewing whether the FDA unlawfully blocked over a million kid-friendly flavored vape products, which critics say fuel youth nicotine addiction.
Despite FDA bans, flavors like fruit and candy dominate illicit vape sales, with 1.6 million minors using such products.
Vape companies argue flavored e-liquids help adult smokers quit, but the FDA counters that their evidence is insufficient to outweigh youth addiction risks.
A lower court sided with the companies, and the Supreme Court’s ruling, expected by June 2025, could reshape vaping regulations.
I buy my vapes in “illicit sales”, and I’m very much an adult. I just prefer it to knock-off tobacco flavors. And, frankly, there’s no real way for me to quit nicotine at this time.
I like nicotine. I don’t like the lung cancer, is all.
We don’t exactly have long term studies on vaporized nicotine’s effects on the lungs. Same goes for the regulated additives. For the illicit stuff, there is no possibility of long term study because they can really put anything they want in there. If you are trying to avoid lung cancer, you likely are not choosing a decent route or you may be trading lung cancer for something that sucks equally as much.
I think the flavor ban is ridiculous but maybe stick to stuff that is at least slightly regulated until flavors are allowed again and there is regulation on it.
I’d love to stick to the non-illicit sales, however, they banned everything except “Knock off tobacco flavor” which was deemed “safe” by the FDA at the behest of Tobacco industry lobbyists.
I’ll take my “unknown risks” over “known risks of lung cancer, throat cancer, and COPD”… Because as of now, I’m breathing better, and am in better shape now that I gave up combustion of tobacco excepting in a blunt.
Which, interestingly enough, is another area I prefer the “illicit sales” than the “legal sales”… Cannabis in NYS has a shite legal market, and a really good “illicit market”.
DIY juice is easy to make and takes very little experience. Recipes are available online and you mix by weight. It does take some safety precautions as nicotine concentrate is very poisonous, but if you don’t want nic all you need is PG, VG, and flavoring.
I started DIYing years ago and never looked back. The only large initial cost is the nicotine, which you buy in concentrate, but the overall cost when you make your juice is cheap as hell. The rate I go through it I have decades of nicotine and my cost per ml is ~6 cents. Most of that cost is the nicotine.