‘It’s A Betrayal Of Sorts’: Denver Businesses Concerned Over FDA’s Potential To Ban Juul E-Cigarettes

Frustrations are growing for Juul e-cigarettes users like Joshua Miller, as a ban on the product looms.

“It doesn’t make sense to still be targeting Juul when they’re the most widely available,” said Joshua Miller, who’s an avid Juul E-cigarette user. “I think first and foremost they’re a smoking cessation tool.”

“It really just helps with the psycho active part of it,” Miller said. “It’s weird being grounded as an adult from something.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to prohibit Juul brand e-cigarettes soon, because the company has been accused by the administration of marketing its products to children. Denver businesses like the Broadway Smoke Shop, which sell the product, said this move is going to hurt business. The shop has sold Juul products for years. This comes as many businesses like the Broadway Smoke Shop are still working to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.

“That’s a 50% revenue that’s just getting sucked out of our day-to-day,” said Jacob Herndon, the Broadway Smoke Shop manager. “It’s a betrayal of sorts, you can’t just watch the news and have them say things like ‘we care about the little guy,’ when they’re constantly just pushing small businesses to the side.”

Many in the smoke community believe this isn’t a decision the government should make for them, and people like Miller worry about the future of not just Juul products, but many others.

“There’s already questions about what’s going to happen next,” Miller said. “I don’t think I should have to put up with that.”

Advocates on the other side have said this ban is a long time coming. If this ban does become official, advocates hope this sets an example for other vaping companies.