SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Last November 8, 2022, California residents voted to allow the law banning the sale of flavored tobacco products to go into effect. The ban would affect the retail sale of tobacco products containing fruit flavors and menthol.

Industry response to the flavor ban began in 2020, when California first passed the ban. Several tobacco companies launched a campaign that got the ban on the ballot for the 2022 election. After California voters approved the ban this past November, tobacco company R.J. Reynolds filed a lawsuit challenging it. Within days, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the claim. The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds and its co-plaintiffs then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 9th Circuit Court ruling.

In November, Bidi Vapor, LLC, Melbourne, Fla., joined in an amicus brief in support of Reynolds and its co-plaintiffs. Seven other vaping companies along with two industry trade associations were part of the filing.

The amicus brief argues that numerous studies have shown how e-cigarettes pose substantially less health risk than combustible cigarettes, while also promoting harm reduction by providing adult smokers a known and effective alternative to combustible cigarettes, according to officials with the Washington, D.C.-based Keller and Heckman LLP, the firm that filed the lawsuit.

The Supreme Court is now considering the Reynolds petition and is likely to render a decision on whether it will accept and hear the case by early 2023, officials with Keller and Heckman said.

For more information on Bidi Vapor, click here.