City files lawsuit against Price Point in fight against flavored vapes

The city is filing another lawsuit to weaken the grasp insidious colorful candy candy-flavored vape peddlers have on Big Apple kids, Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday.

The most recent suit is against Long Island-based Price Point Distributors Inc. and seeks to block the company from further sales as well as seek an undetermined amount of monetary damages and fines.

“Price Point’s greed has been pushing nicotine on our kids for too long and today we say no more,” said in a public safety briefing in City Hall.

“We will not sit idly by as they continue to harm our kids, and we will not tolerate crime and disorder of this magnitude, which includes illegal sales of drugs, vapes and other illegal cannabis products.”

After seeing the dangers of the addictive product, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill prohibiting the sale of flavored vaping products across the five boroughs in 2020, a point City Hall Chief Counsel Allison Stoddart pointed to.

“With this lawsuit, the Adams administration is continuing to hold companies accountable when they put profits over the health of New Yorkers,” she said. 

In July 2023, the Adams administration filed a federal lawsuit against four major distributors, and in April 2024 announced a second lawsuit against 11 local wholesalers.

Both cases are still ongoing.

The city’s acting corporation counsel, Muriel Goode-Trufant, said companies selling flavored vape products are “abusing our laws and undermining public health.”

“By selling disposable vapes with kid-friendly flavors — such as cotton candy, raspberry watermelon, and cherry cola — defendants are putting profit before the wellbeing of young people,” she said Thursday.

Adams said they are also working with the city Department of Education to address the scourge.

DOE Security Director Mark Rampersant noted that the department has close to 300 counselors supporting students addicted to the products and intend to aggressively educate young people on the harms.

“We’re also providing counseling, support services and counseling to our parents as well,” he said without going into detail.

The National Youth Tobacco Survey said one in 10 US middle and high school students — or more than 2.5 million kids — used e-cigarettes in a 30-day sample period.

A survey conducted just one year later by the organization reported that flavored e-cigarettes remain the “most popular products” among teenagers.