As of December 3, 2019, a total of 2,291 cases of hospitalized e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) have been reported to CDC from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). Forty-eight deaths have been confirmed in 25 states and the District of Columbia (as of December 3, 2019): Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. More deaths have been further under investigation. 

Governor Charlie Baker announced an emergency statewide ban on the sale of all vaping products on September 24th. The ban was intended for the federal government to investigate furthermore into the vaping deaths, at the time there were 28 cases of illness reported in Massachusetts. Now 3 confirmed vaping deaths in the state. The ruling did not apply to marjuana vaping products, but there was talk amongst the Superior Court that the ruling would be reissue the ban as an “emergency regulation.” The ban would expire on December 24th, Christmas Eve. 

 

President Trump had planned to ban all flavored e-cigarettes from the pressure of health officials, law makers, parents and families but his plan slowly fell through the cracks and went nowhere. 

 

And then it was marjuana. Apparently Governor Charlie Baker had it all wrong. Or sort of. Heath officials responses were also pretty much silent, just like the vape shop owners...they told the public they just didn’t really...exactly... have an answer yet. 

 

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported six people who had gotten sick after purchasing marjuana dab pens in store from marjuana dispensaries. Legally, too. And many thought that was the answer as of recently. It wasn’t just the e-cigarettes and the nicotine, but the distribution of THC in and out of stores, and maybe through the black market. 

 

“There is extremely strong evidence that the predominant, if not only, cause of the outbreak is THC and CBD vape products that contain vitamin E acetate oil as a thickening agent. There is no evidence that legal, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes sold at retail stores are involved. This is why the state’s emergency ban on all e-cigarettes makes no sense,” said Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Public Health at Boston University. And many people agreed with him that it didn’t make any sense. Many were angry and confused about the ban, including small shops throughout the state of Massachusetts. 

 

The coverage on news channels throughout the country focused mainly on the long term health effects of vaping. And the easy resolution. The CDC’s recommendation of staying away from all vape products, nicotine or THC...or whatever the hell is included in the pens. 

 

First reported by WBUR, Dr. Michael Siegel commented, “It would be like if we had an outbreak of contaminated lettuce and the health department put out a warning saying, 'Do not eat any vegetables.' That's not helpful.” 

 

But there wasn’t any focus whatsoever on what would happen to small shop owners. Many had questions. Some still do. Were they going to close forever? Was it temporary? After getting assigned a final reporting project you decide to cover the issue since there’s little coverage of it to begin with. You go through the process of contacting these shop owners and you visit the stores with your group members with no success. No one is willing to go on the record and at first you don’t understand why. You sit with the silence and ask yourself what you’re going to do. 

 

It wasn’t until October into November, when the silence was interrupted by picket signs and chanting in the streets.  

 

Stores throughout Massachusetts were closing their doors. A store in Medford called Vick’s Vape Shop had claimed that they were only MAYBE at the most getting 100 dollars a week now. They were lucky if they got one customer in during the day. Owners were making a living off their stores and without them, they wouldn’t make a living. And there had to be something done about it. Vick’s Vape was only two of the other stores that was suing the Baker administration. The Boston Convenience Store Owners and The New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association organized a strike, joining vape shop employees to strike outside of City Hall. 

 

It was one day in the midst of the chaos, you call a shop called Vape Daddy’s in Newton, it’s a last case effort to try and get some information about how shop owners feel about the ban. 

 

On the fourth ring or so ring the owner of the shop David Bershad answers. You ask him politely if you can talk to him about the recent vape ban that the governor had implemented...yadayadayada…you also ask him what he thinks most shop owners don’t want to talk to you. 

 

“They’re too busy communicating with each other, and somehow think they’re going to pull this off. I have no income and I layed 7 people off. We already know what’s next.” 

 

He tells you the reason why people won’t talk to you is because a lot of owners think the ban will come to an end in the future. They don’t want to risk anything. He says other shop owners think protesting will do something. 

 

“There’s nothing really to talk about,” he says, “we had four stores. we now have 2. we are moving away from vaping....its over.” 

 

David Bershad was not among the crowd of protestors. His co-owner Stacy Poritzky was also not. According to a story done by WBUR about the closing of their stores Vape Daddy’s, Poritzky had lost over $80,000 worth of vape juice and 20 different types of vaping devices throughout their store that they  couldn’t use or sell. Even more money with the vape ban itself, that being the loss of customers and the amount being paid to just open.

 

You thought this was all just an exaggeration until I looked up the numbers to back up Bershad’s claims.  

 

According to a website Vape Space, “igniting your success in the Vape Space,” the start up costs for a vape shop in general can range from $50,000 to $100,000. The numbers are below. 

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“They’re all looking ahead towards this next election. But what the CDC told us that they speculated that the problem of people dying they thought it was tainted THC cartridges on the black market and they confirmed that on the black market why dont you lift the ban?” 

 

Michael Siegel, agreed with David as well. 

 

“The state has closed down hundreds of vape shops, but that action has done nothing to reduce the number of cases of this outbreak. The actual cause is black market THC vape cartridges, and I am not aware of any action that the state has taken to track down the source of these products and to remove them from the market.” 

 

David Bershad ends the call with you by saying, “The government doesn’t care about your health, they care more about money.”

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You wonder if that’s true. Since the beginning of the ban, people still continue to get sick. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the CDC have discovered the reason why people are getting sick, but they haven’t done anything monumental to remove all products whether black market or dispensary sold. Nicotine has been a product of cigarettes for years, and the long term effects include lung cancer. But the government still continues to sell these products in convenience stores throughout the country. 

 

The ban was lifted two weeks ahead of schedule. The Baker administration lifted it as of Wednesday, December 11th. Retail shops are still prohibited from selling flavored nicotine as a new state law that was signed by Governor Charlie Baker himself. Marijuana-infused vaping products have been “quarantined” by the Cannabis Control Commission. Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, first commented about the new law in an article written by The Salem News, 

 

"This change means little to nothing for Massachusetts vape shops and consumers, as the vast majority of adult ex-smokers who vape do not want to use tobacco flavors," he said. "You'll see a limited number of stores attempt to reopen, but by and large the era of vape shops in Massachusetts is over because more than 90% of the liquids they sold are now illegal."

 

The closing of vape shops in Massachusetts have left owners and employees without jobs and bankrupt out of thousands of dollars. Because of this vape users are forced to either quit, travel to other locations where these products are not yet illegal, or turn back to cigarettes.

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