LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WTVQ / press release) – The federal budget bill signed on Sunday contains a language that bans the interstate shipping of electronic cigarettes through the U.S. Postal Service. The bill adds e-cigarettes to the list of tobacco products that must comply with the Cigarette Trade Prevention Act, which requires senders to pay state excise taxes, label their shipments as tobacco products, and require the signature of a recipient 21 or older, among other things is.
The law gives the U.S. Postal Service 120 days to write regulations to implement the requirements. The following is a statement from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky on that language:
“More than nine out of ten attempts by minors to buy e-cigarettes online are successful,” said Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. “This provision will cut an important path that e-cigarette companies have used to get their dangerous tobacco products to children. The bill is also helping to increase the price of e-cigarettes by ensuring sellers pay the new Kentucky e-cigarette excise tax that we endorsed this year. By reducing youth access and making vapes more expensive, the bill is another important step in reducing the youth vaping epidemic in Kentucky and throughout our country. ”
Since the foundation was funded by a trust since opening in 2001, it has invested more than $ 29 million in grants for health research, advocacy and demonstration projects across the Commonwealth.