Norwood Vape Shop Says Ban Will Put Them Out Of Business

NORWOOD, MA — The Norwood Board of Health has approved a ban on all flavored vape and tobacco products. Like several other Massachusetts communities, including Somerville and Framingham, the town banned everything from menthol cigarettes to any flavor of vape that isn't tobacco.

But Norwood took the idea a step further, forbidding 21-and-over vape shops from selling any flavored products, a ban that local a vape shop said will put it out of business.

According to the Board of Health, the restrictions, which take effect Sept. 15, ban the sales of flavored nicotine products across the board and restrict non-flavored vaping products and tobacco pipes to 21-and-over stores. It also restricts the number of such stores to two.

The Board of Health in a statement said that it reached this decision at its June 19 meeting after reviewing data saying that the number of local middle-school and high-school students using vape products has increased and is higher than state and MetroWest regional averages. The data showed that 45 percent of Norwood High School students have tried a vaping product, while 31 percent regularly vape.

E-cigarette use in at the Coakley Middle School has increased 150 percent, from 5 percent in 2015 to 12.8 percent in 2018, and Norwood High School has increased 40 percent, from 22.6 percent in 2015 to 31.2 percent in 2018.

David Bershad, co-owner of Vape Daddy's, said no one from his store attended the June 19 hearing, which he admitted was a mistake, but he still felt blind-sided because he was under the impression that 21-and-older vape stores wouldn't be included in the ban. Bershad said he has asked to meet with the Board of Health to defend the store's position, but the board has refused.

Public health director Sigalle Reiss told Patch it wasn't that the board wasn't willing to talk to Vape Daddy's, but that the board doesn't believe another public hearing is necessary. At the public hearing, around 20 retailers came to the meeting and said they were worried exemptions to the ban would create an unfair playing field for business, according to Reiss.

Vape Daddy's argued that the ban will cause some harm to convenience stores that sell cigarettes, groceries, and other products, but will be far worse for stores that sell only vape products, effectively banning all but a dozen of the 140 flavored products they sell.

"Banning flavors might result in a small decrease in convenience store sales, but will put us out of business," Vape Daddy's said in a post on the Facebook group, Norwood Now.

The Board of Health also said it took into account the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's research indicating that the appeal of flavored nicotine products to children has tripled the number of middle- and high-school students that vape.

But Vape Daddy's argued that since its opening in 2015, the store has carded anyone who looks under the age of 27 and have never been cited for selling to anyone under 21. Bershad argued that some of what the store sells has zero nicotine in it, while most others have between three and six milligrams of nicotine, which is less than the amount of nicotine in a cigarette.

"While we share the goal of keeping vape equipment out of the hands of anyone under the age of 21, imposing the flavor ban in Vape Daddy’s, the one dedicated vape store in Norwood, will not impact underage usage, and will only serve to send ex-smokers back to smoking," Vape Daddy's said in a statement.

Brookline has instituted a similar ban, which also includes 21 and older tobacco stores. Legislation is also being considered at the state level to ban convenience stores from selling flavored vape and tobacco products.