Having just gone into effect on Sunday (May 1), Alabama’s new law regulating vapes and electronic nicotine devices is being challenged in federal court by the convenience store and gas station industry.
The new law, the result of House Bill 8 from Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, prohibits the sale of vape products outside of vape stores and specialty shops, save for a select few products authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Severe penalties, up to $20,000 in fines or license revocation, are established for retailers who violate the new regulations.
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The bill’s supporters have championed the law as a tool to limit the accessibility of vape products to minors, with some Alabama school districts having resorted to investing in high-tech vape sensors and enacting same-day suspensions to combat significant youth vape use.
Lawsuit
With vape products being a significant revenue source for gas stations and convenience stores, however, a lawsuit against the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board — the regulating authority under the new law — was filed last week on their behalf in the U.S. District Court Middle Alabama Northern Division.
Filed by Petroleum & Convenience Marketers of Alabama, a trade association representing convenience stores, and Young Oil Inc., a company that operates a chain of convenience stores, the organizations allege that the new law will cause severe financial harm to convenience stores, and request an injunction be issued to prevent the law’s enforcement.
“When we filed the lawsuit, the primary purpose was to get a temporary restraining order because the ABC Board hadn’t had an opportunity to put any provision in for the new licenses that are required,” said Bart Fletcher, PCMA president, speaking with Alabama Daily News Monday.
“There were just several provisions in the bill that made a June 1 effective date impossible to do. And so our initial intent was to give some relief for that effective date so that both the retail community and the regulatory community could have enough time to get their ducks in a row.”
National attention
The new law has also drawn national attention, with Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores, arguing that limiting most vape products to specialty stores could be devastating for convenience store and gas station revenue.
“The problem with this is that those stores are often actually the worst ones at making sure minors don’t purchase the product,” Kantor said recently.. “The convenience store compliance track record is far, far better at selling age-restricted products, and so they’re essentially undermining their own stated goals when they do something like this.”
Drummond had carried a bill to impose stricter regulations on vape products for the past three years, and upon its final passage near the end of the 2025 legislative session, proclaimed that “somebody’s child is going to be saved as a result of this,” calling the legislation a “monumental bill.”
Under the law, retailers found to have sold vape products to a customer under 21 could see fines of up to $5,000 for a first offense, and up to $20,000 and license revocation for a third infraction.
Retailers are also required to acquire a new license to sell vape products, and are effectively prohibited from selling products containing foreign-manufactured components unless approved by the FDA.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Alexander Willis and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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