More vape shops to oppose flavour ban
Legal counsel for vaping retailers says companies in other New Brunswick communities have retained firm to mount constitutional challenge of recent provincial legislation
A lawyer whose firm is representing two vaping retailers and its workers says it’s been hired to represent similar New Brunswick businesses accused of violating a provincial ban on the sale of flavoured vaping liquids.
East Coast Vape Inc. of Fredericton and Vapecity Enterprises Inc. of Passekeag, N.B. each face a charge under the provincial Tobacco and Electronic Cigarette Sales Act of selling a vaping liquid with noticeable flavour, and they previously pleaded not guilty to those quasi-criminal charges in Fredericton provincial court.
The Saint John firm of Gorham Vandebeek is representing both businesses, as well as two individuals - Ethan Alexander Murdock and Christopher Pond - charged with the same offence, stemming from their employment at the businesses.
Their charges allege those businesses and workers breached the province’s recent ban on the sale of all flavoured vaping liquids - save for tobacco flavour. The flavour ban was enacted in September 2021 as part of an effort to reduce vaping among youths.