Sweep Cracks Down On Illegal Vape Sales To Minors

SEATTLE — Five companies will be paying Washington state a combined $132,000 for illegally selling vapes to minors, after they were caught by a recent sweep by the Attorney General's Office. Another two did not have the required licenses to sell vapes, and may end up facing Washington in court.

During the sweep, investigators with the Attorney General's Office tried to buy vape products from 148 online sellers. The investigators posed as minors, in some cases telling sellers they were underage, or used fake IDs to try and buy vapes or other products containing nicotine

Some websites used an “age gate,” which asks users to confirm they are old enough to smoke before they are allowed on the site. Most age gates stopped investigators if they entered a birthdate that would be underage, after which investigators would make up a bogus birthday to enter the site, to see if the sellers would check again for actual, legal documentation proving the buyer was of age.

Of those 148 companies investigators contacted, all but seven passed the test. Five of those companies agreed to pay fines for the sales and update their sales and advertising policies to follow Washington state laws. Under Washington law, vendors must verify a buyer's age and confirm their identity before selling any products containing nicotine.

The five fined companies include:

• VanVal Vapor, a Spokane-based company fined $30,000
• Zenith, based in New York, fined $50,000
• Local Vape, from Henderson, Nevada, fined $25,000
• Northland Vapor, based in Moorhead, Minnesota, fined $7,000
• WOV, of Castle Rock, Colorado, fined $20,000

The companies were fined based on the amount of vapor product they sell online. Some also had to pay extra because they did not have the correct licenses to sell vape products required by Washington state.

Two other companies caught up in the sweep did not agree to a fine settlement, and may end up facing Washington in court. Washington has already sued the first, E-Juice Vapors, for license violations and for not reporting their sales in their home state of California. That suit is ongoing. The other company, Vaping Zone of South Carolina, had also failed to obtain a license. The Attorney General's Office says Vaping Zone has a short time left to reach a resolution, or they will be facing a lawsuit from the state of Washington.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson says this type of enforcement is necessary to protect young children from addiction.

“Parents are working hard to combat the youth vaping epidemic, but it can be a challenge,” Ferguson said. “That challenge becomes more difficult when companies don’t respect the rules. Companies that sell vapor products in Washington must follow our laws.”

The sweep was part of an ongoing effort from the state of Washington to combat what the Attorney General's Office calls a "youth vaping epidemic." In September, Ferguson sued JUUL, the largest vape company in the country, for their advertising campaigns targeting children.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s Office does note that there has been a sharp increase in tobacco use in minors, tied to the growth of the vape industry over the past decade. For example, in 2011 just .06 percent of American middle schoolers had ever used e-cigarettes. By 2019 one in ten middle schoolers had. Similarly, in 2016 13 percent of Washington high school sophomores used vape products. Just two years later, in 2018, that number had ballooned to 21 percent.