News
4th Circuit upholds NC law restricting vape sales
The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a North Carolina law banning sales of vapes that lack federal government approval.
Opinion
Seed to shelf: Why NC’s nicotine rules should apply to vapes, too
Walk into any given convenience store or smoke shop and buy a vape. No one can tell you where it was made or what is in it, and there’s no guarantee the clerk bothers to ID.
News
Tillis asks Bondi to investigate Cherokee marijuana operation
US Sen. Thom Tillis asked US Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into the Eastern Band of the Cherokee potentially marketing marijuana to children, and transporting it outside of their western NC reservation, a violation of federal law.
News
NC among last states without age 21 tobacco sales law
While the minimum age to purchase tobacco products is 21 across the US under federal law, North Carolina is one of just a few states that has yet to align state tobacco laws with the 2019 federal regulation.
News
NCGA bill bans Delta-8 and Delta-9 products on public school grounds
On Tuesday, the House Standing Committee on Health approved a bipartisan bill aimed at restricting certain substances on school grounds. The bill proposes a complete ban on tobacco products, hemp-derived products, and their synthetic counterparts—such as Delta-8, Delta-9, CBD, and vapor products—on public school property.
News
Legislators prepare to regulate euphoric ‘gas station’ drug
A growing number of young adults are abusing a ‘gas station’ drug for its euphoric properties similar to opioids like heroin.
News
Teen vaping clouds the debate over safer alternatives to smoking
When her teenage son collapsed in a seizure, it hit High Point mother Kelly Kinard. Luka was addicted. He was vaping the equivalent of 80 cigarettes per day, and it took sending him to rehab in California to get him to stop. “We see our kid’s futures going down the toilet,” Kinard said. “We saw...
News
Vaping tax vanishes from modified Senate tax-cut bill
The vape tax disappeared by the time its mini-budget made it to the House floor. The House Finance Committee sprung an amendment that would tax e-cigarette and vapor products on Senate Bill 557 in committee, Wednesday, Oct. 30. The amendment cleared the Finance Committee that morning with strong support, but was scrubbed in the House...
News
Last-minute vaping tax proposal could threaten other tax reforms
State legislators have sent a tax on vaping to the House. The House Finance Committee amended a mini-budget, Senate Bill 557, Wednesday, Oct. 30, to raise the tax on vaping and send part of the tax revenue toward the Tobacco Use Prevention Fund. Representatives called the tax the “first step” in tackling the vaping crisis....
News
Doctors fighting to find cause of lung damage in patients who vaped
When a patient’s lungs began to fail, doctors had no ready explanation — until they read media reports of vaping-related illnesses. Greensboro-based Cone Health saw its first case of the national vaping-related epidemic in August, when a patient with damaged lungs ended up on life support. “All along I was thinking, why is this young...
News
Vaping ban could unleash new set of health concerns
Doctors expect more people to die of vaping-related illnesses in North Carolina. The first North Carolinian died of vaping-related lung illness at Cone Health in Greensboro on Thursday, Sept. 26. Vaping-related illnesses have hit the Tar Heel State hard. Though it has been spared the severity of the outbreaks in California and Texas, North Carolina...
Opinion
What to know about teens, nicotine, and ‘JUULing’
[Editor’s note: This column was updated after original publication to include recent data.] The latest device flooding schools resembles a flash drive but doesn’t store data. Its purpose: delivering a flavored nicotine hit. Called a JUUL, it’s a hipper iteration of the e-cigarette, which debuted a decade ago. Adolescents, who love JUUL’s super-slick appearance, brand...
