Oregon ZYN, Vape, Nic Pouch Flavor Ban Will Cost Jobs and Lives
Attention Oregon Business Owners and Concerned Citizens
Jobs, businesses, and adult nicotine consumers have been targeted by a freedom stripping flavor ban in Oregon.
✅ Ban the sale of mint, menthol, wintergreen, and other flavored nicotine products—even those FDA has approved for marketing.
✅ Restrict consumer choice by eliminating flavored vaping products that play a critical role in smoking cessation.
✅ Threaten small businesses that depend on flavored vapor product sales.
✅ Drive Oregon consumers to out-of-state and unregulated markets, creating unintended public health risks.
SB702 bars the sale of all flavored nicotine and tobacco products—except for tobacco flavor—even products authorized by the FDA.
SB702 Would Ban ZYN and Vape Flavors
It won't just be adult vapers purchasing blue razz disposable vapes who stand to suffer this time.
SB702 is a sweeping proposal that prohibits the sale of mint, menthol, wintergreen, and even the flavors found in recently approved ZYN nicotine pouches, without any scientific evaluation by the state legislature or health department.
Your product selection will be limited to actual tobacco or alternative products infused with the less popular faux-bacco fake tobacco flavors.
Oregon Bill SB 702
- Overrides FDA decisions that have already deemed some flavored products appropriate for public health.
- Remove harm-reduction options for adult smokers looking to transition away from combustible cigarettes.
- Pushes consumers toward riskier alternatives like DIY e-liquid, out-of-state purchases, or the unregulated black market.
This bill is not currently scheduled for a hearing, but that could change quickly. Now is the time for Oregonians to take action by contacting their state senators and urging them to oppose SB 702.
📢 Take Action Now: CASAA’s Call to Action for Oregon
Tell Your Legislator that Job-Killing SB702 Will Also Harm Adult Consumers
If you are a vape shop, smoke shop or C-Store owner, this law will effectively strip your shelves of every best-selling product, funneling your customers back onto combustible cigarettes or black market alternatives. The state will be deprived of tax revenue from these transactions.
Urge your state senator to reject SB 702 and protect access to flavored nicotine alternatives, as this law specifically targets even FDA-approved products.
📢 Take Action Now: CASAA’s Call to Action for Oregon
The Importance of Flavors in Harm Reduction
Your business, and the livelihoods it supports, will suffer if popular adult nicotine products are banned.
Examined ethically, this flavor ban is a public health calamity. Flavor bans have been promoted by nicotine prohibitionists for over half a decade and the results are in. Flavor bans increase cigarette sales. This was the case when it was only vaping flavors banned, and will be that much worse with nicotine pouches also being barred.
For many adults who have successfully quit smoking, flavored vapor products and nicotine pouches have played a crucial role in their transition away from cigarettes. Studies show that non-tobacco flavors are preferred by the vast majority of adult vapers, and those who use them are more likely to stay smoke-free.
Prohibiting flavored alternatives while keeping traditional cigarettes widely available makes little sense from a public health perspective. Instead of reducing harm, this type of ban risks sending former smokers back to combustible tobacco, undoing years of progress in reducing smoking-related diseases.
The FDA has already evaluated and authorized some flavored nicotine products as appropriate for public health. SB 702 would ignore this scientific review process and implement an outright ban without considering the real-world consequences.
What a Flavor Ban Means for Your Business
If SB 702 is enacted, Oregon consumers will face tough choices:
- Crossing state lines: Many people will be forced to buy their preferred nicotine products in neighboring states where they remain legal.
- Turning to online sales: While some consumers may seek products online, shipping restrictions have made it increasingly difficult to purchase nicotine products legally.
- The black market grows: Prohibitions don’t eliminate demand—they just push sales underground, increasing the risk of unregulated and potentially unsafe products.
- DIY vaping: Some users may attempt to make their own e-liquids, which could pose additional risks due to lack of quality control.
- Increase in cigarette sales: Phillip Morris would appear to be the big loser, having spent vast sums to gain FDA approval for ZYN flavors only for a flavor ban to remove their product from store shelves.
- Jobs and Businesses Lost: The tobacco industry as a whole does benefit, as their legacy oral tobacco and combustible cigarettes remain available. Unfortunately, their distribution model makes it nearly impossible for an independent vape shop or smoke shop to stay open selling Marlboro and Skoal.
Rather than forcing consumers into these uncertain situations, Oregon lawmakers should focus on enforcing existing regulations and keeping nicotine products out of the hands of youth, rather than removing harm reduction options for adults.
Flavored Nicotine Bans Kill Marginalized Americans
As a business owner, protecting your own livelihood and those of your employees is an obvious priority. If debating, advocating or arguing on behalf of your business, you may consider it worth noting how flavor bans play out in reality. They disproportionately harm marginalized groups, which is very sad considering these laws first emerged in Portland.
Rather than forcing consumers into these uncertain situations, Oregon lawmakers should focus on enforcing existing regulations and keeping nicotine products out of the hands of youth, rather than removing harm reduction options for adults.
How You Can Help
Share your story. Explain how these products help your customers. If you personally switched from smoking to vaping or nicotine pouches, explain how flavors helped you quit.
Describe your health improvements. Many former smokers experience better breathing, increased energy, and overall improved well-being after making the switch.
Explain the impact of a ban. Let lawmakers know what losing access to flavored products would mean for you—whether you’d shop elsewhere, turn to riskier alternatives, or struggle to stay smoke-free.
Oregon legislators must consider the real-world impact of banning harm-reduction products. Tell them to oppose SB 702 and stand for science-based policies, not prohibition.
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