Local vape shop owners concerned over potential ban

The Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives have proposed legislation that seeks to ban flavoured vape juice in the province.

Vaping has been the subject of controversy recently after several reported illnesses in the United States.

But Ryan Leville, owner of The Foggy Coil Vape Shop, says the industry is misunderstood and under attack.

“We've always been under attack, at least as long as I've been involved, since 2014,” Leville tells NEWS 95.7's The Todd Veinotte Show.

Vape proponents are stressing the difference between THC cartridges, which have caused the majority of illnesses and deaths, and e-cigarette vape juice.

“It's important to have product that we believe in and that we believe is safe for our customers,” Leville adds.

Leville says that the main reason behind the proposed legislation is to prevent children from accessing vapes, which he is on board with.

“Minors are not allowed in [my] store,” he explains. “I absolutely think there's a responsibility from store owners to prevent this kind of thing.”

But now that e-juice is widespread, cartridges are also being sold at gas stations and convenience stores, many of which are less strict with checking ID.

“You can walk into any gas station or convenience store at this point and purchase a number of mass-produced products that are a lot different than what you'd see if you walked into a specialty vape shop,” says Nick Flynn, co-owner of the Halifax Cloud Company vape shop.

Flynn says he started smoking cigarettes at a very young age, and was always able to gain access somehow.

“I certainly managed to get cigarettes from convenience stores and gas stations before I was 19 a lot of times,” he tells NEWS 95.7's The Todd Veinotte Show.

Bother shop owners are worried that the ban won't explicitly focus on access, but will also restrict selling flavoured juice to adults.

“By also having those flavours that's why people are sticking with it and not putting it down,” says Leville, noting that dessert flavours and fruit flavours are the most popular.

Michelle Donaldson, communications manager for the Lung Association of Nova Scotia, agrees that preventing young people from trying tobacco products should be the primary goal.

“It's all about protecting our young people and trying to ensure that we don't have a new generation of young people that are addicted to nicotine products that are going to harm their lung health,” she says.
“We would support any legislation that would put further restrictions on vaping products, to bring them more in line with what we have for tobacco products.”

Donaldson says many of the 8,000 flavours currently available are appealing to youth, like Sour Skittles and Cotton Candy.

“Smoking rates have been declining for many years and now for the first time in a long while we've seen youth smoking rates on the rise,” she adds.

Flynn agrees that youth shouldn't be smoking, but says many adults are fans of the flavoured products when trying to give up cigarettes.

“It's an opportunity for people to remove tobacco from their life, which we know is a very significant risk, for an alternate option that as far as we can tell is significantly less harmful,” he says. “Everyone in the industry wants to see these products restricted better and not available to children, because at the end of the day they're for adults.”

The shop owners say that Nova Scotia was in fact one of the first places to implement vape legislation, and that producers and exclusive vape sellers are careful with their products and customer base.

“If something were to happen and you were to get a bad batch, it would be very easy for manufacturers to trace them and do things like recalls,” says Flynn.

Leville worries that if flavoured juices are banned, some users may try to create their own, with undesirable consequences.

“Without the knowledge and know-how, it's easy to accidentally mix something,” he says.

If the flavour ban happens, Leville thinks Nova Scotia could end up with a similar market as the U.K., where flavours and nicotine are sold separately in what's called 'Shake-n-Vape.'

“You have a flavour base with vegetable glycerin propylene glycol, and then you have a separate bottle of nicotine that you pour into it and then shake to vape,” he says.