Vape shop admits to selling flavoured liquid
A judge fined Vape & Beyond of Oromocto on Tuesday for violating recent provincial legislation limiting the kinds of vaping products that can be sold
The owner of an Oromocto vape shop admitted Tuesday his business sold flavoured vaping liquid late last year, in contravention of recent legislation barring them in New Brunswick.
Steven Webb, owner of Vape & Beyond, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Tuesday to answer to a charge under the Tobacco and Electronic Cigarette Sales Act.
He pleaded guilty on behalf of the business to selling or offering for sale flavoured vaping liquor at its location on Restigouche Road in Oromocto on Dec. 12.
Judge Cameron Gunn imposed the minimum fine of $292.50.
The provincial government enacted the ban on all flavoured vaping liquids (except for tobacco flavour) in September 2021. The goal of the new legislation was to curb youth vaping.
Two other local vape shops - East Coast Vape Inc.’s Oromocto location and Vape City’s Fredericton storefront - face tickets under the same legislation for the same alleged offences.
However, they’re represented by the law firm of Gorham Vandebeek LLP, and defence lawyer Adrian Forsythe previously told court those clients plan on mounting a defence arguing the flavoured-liquid ban is unconstitutional.
Also, there’s another court challenge of the change to the Tobacco and Electronic Cigarette Sales Act underway as part of a civil lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench.
The plaintiffs - Kayleigh Miller, Anthony Miller, Donald Vosburgh and Roderick Pollard - are challenging the ban by arguing it violates their Section 7 rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
That section guarantees the right to "life, liberty and security of the person," and among their arguments that the flavoured-liquid ban inhibits people’s ability to quit smoking, which poses greater health risks than vaping.
That lawsuit is in the discovery stage, and no trial date has been set as yet in the case.
You can contact Don MacPherson at ftonindependent@gmail.com.