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On July 8, according to foreign reports, a judge in Washington County announced on Tuesday that the flavored tobacco ban opposed by the majority of voters in the county had not yet taken effect, and said the county was not prepared to implement it anyway.

County health officials said this was not the case, but they admitted that they must now allow flavoring products that are not attractive to teenagers to continue to be sold.

This is only the latest in a series of setbacks in which the county banned flavored tobacco products for the first time.

The initial ban was implemented by the Washington County Committee in November 2021 and is scheduled to begin in January this year.

But the opponents of the ban, led by Jonathan Polonsky, CEO of plaid pantry, collected enough signatures to put them on the ballot and let voters make a decision in May.

Supporters of the ban spent more than $1million to defend it. In the end, voters in Washington County overwhelmingly chose to retain the ban.

In February, before the vote, several companies in Washington County filed lawsuits to challenge the act. Serenity vapors, king’s hookah lounge and torched illusions, represented by lawyer Tony Aiello, argued in the lawsuit that they were legal enterprises and would be unfairly harmed by the county’s laws and regulations.

On Tuesday, Washington County Circuit Judge Andrew Owen agreed to suspend the pending injunction. According to Owen, the county’s argument to maintain the ban when the law is challenged is not “convincing”, because he said that the county’s lawyers said that the plan to implement the ban “in the foreseeable future” is zero.

On the other hand, Owen infers that if the law is observed, the enterprise will immediately suffer irreparable damage.

Owen wrote in his injunction: “the defendant argued that the public interest in Act No. 878 was overwhelmingly higher than that of the plaintiff. But the defendant admitted that they had no plans to promote the public interest because they did not expect to implement the regulation in the foreseeable future.”

Mary Sawyer, a county health spokesman, explained, “law enforcement will begin with the state’s inspection of the tobacco retail licensing law. The state government will inspect enterprises every year to ensure that they have licenses and comply with the new state laws. If inspectors find that enterprises in Washington County are selling flavoring products, they will notify us.”

After receiving the notice, the county government will first educate the enterprises about the seasoning product law, and will issue a ticket only if the enterprises fail to comply.

Sawyer said, “none of this has happened, because the state has just started the inspection this summer, and they have not recommended any enterprises to us.”

The county has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. But so far, Washington County has flavored tobacco and electronic cigarette products.

Jordan Schwartz is the owner of serenity vapors, one of the plaintiffs in the case, which has three branches in Washington County. Schwartz claims that his company has helped thousands of people quit smoking.

Now, he said, the customer came in and told him, “I think I’m going to smoke cigarettes again. That’s what they forced us to do.”

According to Schwartz, serenity vapors mainly sells flavored tobacco oil and electronic cigarette appliances.

“80% of our business comes from certain flavoring products.” He said.

“We have hundreds of flavors.” Schwartz continued. “We have about four kinds of tobacco flavors, which is not a very popular part.”

Jamie Dunphy, a spokesman for the cancer action network of the American Cancer Society, has different views on flavored nicotine products.

“The data shows that less than 25% of adults who use any type of tobacco products (including e-cigarettes) use any form of flavoring products,” dunfei said. “But the vast majority of children who use these products say they only use flavoring products.”

Schwartz said he did not sell to minors and only allowed people aged 21 and over to enter his store.

He said: “in every county in the country, it is illegal to sell these products to people under the age of 21, and those who violate the law should be prosecuted.”

Schwartz said he believes there should be some restrictions and hopes to be part of the dialogue on how to do this. However, he said, “100% banning it completely is definitely not the right way.”

If the ban takes effect, Dunphy has little sympathy for business owners who may be unlucky.

“They work in an industry that is specifically designed to manufacture products that are not regulated by any government entity. These products taste like candy and are decorated like toys, clearly attracting children,” he said.

Although the number of young people smoking traditional cigarettes is declining, e-cigarettes are a common entry point for children to use nicotine. According to the data of the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, in 2021, 80.2% of high school students and 74.6% of middle school students using e-cigarettes have used flavoring products in the past 30 days.

Dunfei said that e-cigarette liquid contains more nicotine than cigarettes and is easier to hide from parents.

“The rumor from the school is that it is worse than ever.” He added. “Beverton high school had to remove the door of the bathroom compartment because many children use electronic cigarettes in the bathroom between classes.”