New legislation led by Illinois State Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel (D-Shorewood) will soon prohibit e-cigarettes from being shipped to Illinois.
Illinois Senate Bill 3098, signed into law Aug. 9, prohibits e-cigarettes purchased by mail, online or through other remote sale methods from being shipped to anyone in the state other than a distributor or retailer. Senate Bill 3098 goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025.
The new legislation is to protect youth from the dangers of vaping, Cappel said, adding that the internet has made it “very easy” for kids to get vapes by clicking a button online.
“Manufacturers are making e-cigarettes look like school supplies, making it difficult for teachers to decipher if it’s a vape or not,” she said. “After hearing from local elected officials who were seeing an uptick in the usage of vapes in schools, it was clear we had to put guardrails in place to protect kids from the dangers of smoking.”
Michelle Stiff, Joliet Township High School District 204 board president, said “there has been an alarming increase of e-cigarette use by high school students. We are seeing far too many student discipline cases related to vaping. This is why there needs to be a comprehensive and collaborative approach to lessen the accessibility of sale and marketing of vape products.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-Illinois) in 2023 signed a bill, HB 1540, banning the usage of e-cigarettes in indoor public spaces. The bill adds electronic smoking devices to the 2008 Smoke-Free Illinois Act, which banned smoking in most public spaces in the state.
On the federal level, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury are proposing a new rule to require submission of tracking numbers for imports of e-cigarette products. And in June, the FDA and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) created a federal multi-agency task force to combat the illegal distribution and sale of e-cigarettes.
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