Half-year vape product ban has Ore. sellers fully fuming

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon regulators enacted a six-month ban Friday on the sale of flavored nicotine and cannabis vape products in stores and online statewide amid an outbreak of illnesses that has sickened nearly 1,300 people nationwide and killed 26.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which regulates the recreational marijuana market, voted unanimously to approve the temporary sales ban on the same day that the Oregon Health Authority, which regulates tobacco sales statewide, filed the ban with the Oregon secretary of state.

Dozens of marijuana processors and vape manufacturers packed the commission room during the vote, and some shouted out in frustration during a news conference when an official said the ban would affect only 10 percent of the cannabis vape market.

The ban applies to all nicotine and cannabis vapes that contain flavoring derived from anything except pure marijuana terpenes. Terpenes are organic compounds that give plants and fruits their flavor or scent.

Vape pen manufacturers add natural and artificial terpene mixes to nicotine- or cannabis-containing oil to give the products popular flavors.

Earlier this month, Gov. Kate Brown ordered the temporary ban. Several other states, including Washington, New York, Rhode Island and Michigan, have also imposed temporary bans.

TJ Sheehy, manager of the OLCC’s marijuana technical unit, told commissioners before Friday’s vote that vape brands that contain flavor compounds are “completely unknown black boxes in terms of their contents” and that consumers have to “take on faith” their safety.

Oregon regulators test the marijuana oil in the vape devices for solvents and pesticides before the terpenes are added. But the companies that make the terpenes are outside the state regulatory system, and the pens aren’t tested after the flavoring is added, he explained. Nicotine-only vape pens undergo even less scrutiny, officials said.

“Quite frankly, no one buying these things knows what’s in them,” Sheehy said.

The ban goes into effect Tuesday. Disgruntled and worried marijuana entrepreneurs said the sales ban would crush their businesses.

The Associated Press file Oregon’s six-month ban on flavored vape product sales will take effect Tuesday.