A group of vape store owners sued Denver on Friday over its flavored nicotine ban.
The flavored tobacco ban officially took effect this month, although the Denver City Council passed the law in 2024. Opponents filed a ballot initiative to reverse the change, but Denver residents overwhelmingly voted to support the ban in the November election.
The new lawsuit argues the ban is unconstitutional and selectively enforced, and that it is harming small businesses. The plaintiffs are working together as the Rocky Mountain Smoke Free Alliance.
“If Denver City Council really cared about public health, they would’ve banned cigarettes a long time ago,” Kristen Hensel, owner of Rusty’s Vape Store in Denver, said in a statement. “Cigarettes are still sold in every store across Denver, even though they’re the deadliest tobacco product. Instead of fighting for what is right, the City is shutting down small mom-and-pop shops like mine.”
The plaintiffs are asking a Denver County Court judge to stop the ban’s enforcement. It also requests the court declare the sale of separate flavor additives as legal.
Vape store owners have strongly opposed the ban. Many said it could force them to move to neighboring cities.
Under the ban, vape store owners have to stop selling products like e-cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, and smokeless tobacco, available in flavors like strawberry, vanilla custard, cotton candy, and mint.
Proponents of the ban say flavored tobacco lures children into lifelong addictions to tobacco.
