MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Tobacco shops in Alabama are no longer being able to advertise vaping as a healthy alternative to smoking.
A wide-ranging law regulating vaping that passed the legislature earlier this year went into effect Thursday.
It also prohibits opening vape shops within 1,000 feet of a school, church or childcare facility and limits advertising on billboards to include only three vaping flavors. That includes tobacco, mint and menthol.
Critics say fruit-flavored vaping liquids attract younger users.
One of the law's sponsors, Democrat Rep. Barbara Drummond, told WBRC-TV she was shocked to see a 12-year-old in her Sunday school class with a vape, which she initially thought was a flash drive.
Alabama was one of three states that previously did not regulate vaping.
