CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On Monday, House Bill 7458 went into effect, which limits the marketing of e-cigarettes.
It's something lawmakers said often targets minors using symbols, celebrities, cartoon characters or food that could potentially attract the attention of young people.
"Target that, so that way kids won't get influenced by that. A lot of it is the flavors of the different vape pens," said Nueces County Justice of the Peace Judge Joe Benavides.
Knowing first hand how prevalent vaping is in the community, Benivedes said that his court frequently sees minors when it comes to the offense of vaping. He said that the new law will help loosen the influence the habit can have on today's youth.
"The products aren't sold to the minors but its how they advertise the product that engages the minor to buy the product," he said.
Vapor Vault employee Sean Janosky said that the new law has already forced them to mark down or completely pull inventory from their shelves.
"We had to put everything on deep discount, basically to what we paid for it," he said.
Janosky said that while he understands the sentiment behind the law, he said that it shouldn't apply to shops like his.
"We're a 21 and up establishment, children don't come in here unless they're with their parents," he said.
Wanting to see change, Janosky said that in the end, the law still has a ways to go.
"The purpose of the law is to protect kids from the influence of the marketing," he said. They can't look through our windows gazing longingly at a strawberry, going I want to vape a strawberry. They're not going to do that."
Shops that break the law can face a class b misdemeanor conviction, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and up to a $2,000 fine.
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