WACO, Texas (FOX 44) – Juul is appealing the FDA’s decision to ban the selling of its products still on store shelves.
In the appeal process, smoke shop owners in Waco say this is the beginning of a slippery slope for other items they sell.
Very few smoke shops in Waco still sell Juul’s, but the closest products to Juul are e-cigs and vapes.
“I haven’t really had the craving for any kind of like tobacco products like I used to. It kind of got me off the craving.”
Joseph Soriano has been using vapes for over 10 years.
Seeing the FDA’s attempt to ban Juul, he wants a free market, but would like more information on the product.
“You know a testing kind of regimen, or at least products that could could prove that these products are safely tested or made in America…”
At Glass Phoenix, vapes are a staple item.
“We’ve got all of these disposable vapes on the shelf right here, and I’d say it’s probably about 20-30% of our revenue overall,” said Katy Ellis, owner of Glass Phoenix. “That’s a huge chunk of change. You know, over a year.”
Ellis believes the banning process is trying to reverse how nicotine is consumed, and will impact our health.
“Companies are saying, oh, well, we should go back to tobacco based nicotine, but frankly, synthetic nicotine is safer,” said Ellis. “Usually when you’re talking about synthetics, you know, people think of spice, K2, all of that. You’re thinking of something that’s very negative, but tobacco based nicotine actually has more carcinogens.”
Seeing the demand from customers wanting vapes and e-cigs, shoppers like Soriano say added taxes would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
“Raising the price of it, that way might be something that would dissuade me. Only because everything else is so expensive as well” said Soriano. “That would be a non-priority that would go me for me personally. I would be really against such a thing.”