Act Now to Stop Kentucky Big Tobacco Protection Act

Adult access to popular combustible cigarette alternatives will be cut off and a Big Tobacco monopoly enshrined in law if Kentucky HB 11 and its companion bill Kentucky SB 344 are passed. Kentucky taxpayers will foot the bill and pay to enforce failed FDA regulations if this PMTA Registration is passed.

These laws would put independent vape shops out of business, hundreds of workers out of jobs, and thousands of people at risk of returning to smoking, or delaying attempts at switching to non-combustible products. Only lower margin products would remain on the market, with popular disposable vapes banned. 

Please take a minute to send an email to your lawmakers urging them to oppose HB 11 / SB 344! Click here or on the 

Please take a minute to send an email to your lawmakers urging them to oppose this HB 2211! Click on the call-to-action banner below or click here to make your voice heard. 

PMTA Registry Laws have been backed by tobacco lobbyists in dozens of states. Check out our deep-dive, the Big Lies of Big Tobacco, for everything you need to know about these laws.

FLAVOR BANS INCREASE CIGARETTE SALES

PMTA Registry Laws have been backed by tobacco lobbyists in dozens of states. Check out our deep-dive, the Big Lies of Big Tobacco, for everything you need to know about these laws. If passed, the adult vaping consumer will either pay more to vape or be funneled back onto combustible cigarettes, either through the sheer expense Big Tobacco's pod kits or the lack of the adult appealing flavors that the majority of vapers prefer.

A recent FDA sponsored study found that flavor bans increase cigarette sales. Big Tobacco's prefilled pods are limited to tobacco flavors. Cigarettes of course are not impacted by these restrictions. Their motivations for supporting PMTA Registry Bills are not difficult to discern. 

Regardless of age, adult vapers overwhelmingly prefer the characterizing flavors that the FDA seems so reluctant to approve. This benefits the tobacco industry. Even the 45+ age cohort prefers flavored vapes at a rate of over 60 percent. This despite flavor bans limiting adult access to in many areas of the country. 

While vaping has been under siege for many years, this bill will criminalize vape sales. Few vape shops can survive selling eight-year-old pod kits, mods, and a couple lines of e-liquid.

A legally enforced monopoly will provide the tobacco industry with the freedom to raise prices further and the profit margin for resellers. The tobacco industry has been unwilling or unable to compete with the independent vape industry in terms of price and innovation. Youth vaping rates have fallen every year since 2019, and the odds of a national flavor ban that would only benefit the tobacco industry seem more remote than ever. 

The table below shows the discrepancy in price to consumer between disposable vapes and tobacco-industry pod kits. Big Tobacco's prefilled pods are also lower margin products for the resellers. It is a lose-lose-lose situation for business owners, vapers, and potentially public health. 

Consumer freedom, entrepreneurship, customer choice and your pocketbook will take a huge hit if the Kentucky Vape Sales Ban is to pass.