The FDA and DOJ have legally barred about a half-dozen vaping companies for selling products that can appeal to youngsters, but many more manufacturers continue launching new products, primarily disposable vapes that can’t be refilled and are thrown in the trash.

Hundreds – actually 320 – of new laws took effect in Illinois when the disco ball dropped on 2023. WTTW News has rounded up some of the laws most likely to impact your day-to-day life.

The recent shift toward e-cigarettes that can’t be refilled has created a new environmental dilemma. The devices, which contain nicotine, lithium and other metals, cannot be reused or recycled. Under federal environmental law, they also aren’t supposed to go in the trash.

The agreement with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. marks the latest in a string of recent legal settlements Juul has reached across the country with cities and states.

The settlement resolves one of the biggest legal threats facing the beleaguered company, which still faces nine separate lawsuits from other states. Additionally, Juul faces hundreds of personal suits brought on behalf of teenagers and others who say they became addicted to the company’s vaping products.

The survey found that 11% of young adults reported using marijuana on a daily basis in 2021 and 43% had used it in the past year. About 8% of young adults reported using substances such as LSD, PCP and psychedelic mushrooms in the past year, up from just 3% in 2011.

Vaping-related illnesses have killed more than 60 people across the U.S. since March – including five in Illinois – and hospitalized 2,758 others, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A deadly outbreak of vaping illnesses has been linked to black market products containing THC. But similar products are now sold legally at cannabis dispensaries across Illinois. Are they safe?

Starting in early February, the Food and Drug Administration will prohibit the sale of some flavored e-cigarette cartridges, including fruit, mint and candy flavors, as part of an effort to curb youth use.

Trump was vague about what the plan would entail but suggested “certain flavors” in cartridge-based e-cigarettes would be taken off the market “for a period of time.”

Health officials now blame vitamin E acetate for the “vast majority” of cases in the U.S. outbreak of vaping illnesses and they say doctors should monitor patients more closely after they go home from the hospital.

Congress is moving to pass the biggest new sales restrictions on tobacco products in more than a decade, with support from two unlikely backers: Marlboro-cigarette maker Altria and vaping giant Juul Labs.

As part of an effort to steer youth away from vaping, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi are proposing a new fee on e-cigarette manufacturers and importers to fund prevention programs.

Juul Labs, the largest manufacturer of e-cigarettes in the nation, intentionally marketed its products to minors and misrepresented the potency of nicotine in its products, according to a lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. 

Health officials investigating a nationwide outbreak of vaping illnesses have listed, for the first time, the vape brands most commonly linked to hospitalizations.

More than 50% of high school students and nearly 25% of middle school students in the U.S. have tried a tobacco product in their lifetimes, according to the latest National Youth Tobacco Survey. “It’s really disappointing,” a local pediatrician said.