Floridians who use vaping products won’t be restricted to two flavors after Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would’ve banned them. The goal of the legislation was to try and limit the product from getting into the hands of minors. Robert Lovett, President with the Florida Smoke Free Association believes it would’ve hurt adults who vape.
"There are many older adults who smoke for 30, or 40, or 50 years and they tried everything in the world to quit. Chantix, cold turkey, hypnosis you name it I’ve heard thousands and thousands of stories like this and vaping was the only thing that worked for them," said Lovett.
Lovett says he’s willing to work with legislators in the upcoming session to find alternatives that would help to decrease the underage use of nicotine products. The American Cancer Society’s Paul Hull says the bill didn’t go far enough and wants to try another solution.
"It’s a tried and true method if you raise the price of a product that kids are going to be less apt to get it," said Hull. "It’s been over a decade since Florida has raised its tobacco taxes and clearly its time to do that again."
In a veto letter explaining his decision, DeSantis writes reducing the use of all nicotine-related products among youth is an important goal. But he says that it won’t happen by eliminating legal products for adults and devastating the small businesses that sell them.
DeSantis had previously expressed concerns about attempts to ban vaping: noting most of the illnesses and deaths were caused by black market products.
