Illinois Cracks Down On Concealed Vapes, Bans E-Cigarettes Masquerading As School Supplies

LAKE FOREST, IL — Vapes in disguise have been banned under new legislation led by a local lawmaker and signed into law last week.

Starting in January 2025, anyone selling or marketing e-cigarettes pretending to be pens, hidden as highlighters or camouflaged as a calculator could face fines up to $10,000 and suspension of their state licenses.

Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) sponsored Senate Bill 2662, an amendment to the Preventing Youth Vaping Act that unanimously passed the Illinois House and Senate in May. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed it on Friday.

“With more high school students using vapes today than cigarettes 10 years ago, youth e-cigarette use is a public health threat," Morrison said in a statement.

School officials have found e-cigarettes designed to appear like school supplies and complained to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services about it, according to the state senator's office.

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The new law makes it any thing that is "likely to cause" someone "to mistake the electronic cigarette for a product that is not a tobacco product."

“This law will prohibit tobacco companies from pulling the wool over the eyes of educators and guardians whose job it is to keep kids safe," Morrison said.

Morrison has previously sponsored legislation to add vaping to existing indoor smoking restrictions in the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco to 21 and to ban marketing that is attractive to children, such as cartoons or "a video game, movie, video, or animated television show known to appeal primarily to persons under 21 years of age."

“As chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, I have taken a strong stand on the issue of nicotine use,” she said. “This law will protect our children from creating a habit that can have harmful long term effects.”

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 percent of high school students and 4.6 percent of middle school students last year reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days.

Meanwhile, there has been a significant decline in traditional cigarette use among young people, with just 1.9 percent of high school students and 1.1 percent of middle school students in 2023 reporting they smoked a cigarette within the prior month, according to the CDC.

“E-cigarettes contain nicotine and other chemicals which can be harmful to both those who use them and those who are exposed to them,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said ahead of this year's effective date of legislation treating vaping indoors the same as smoking cigarettes.

In another law signed by Pritzker Sunday, Senate Bill 3098 bans electronic cigarettes purchased online from being shipped to anyone in Illinois other than distributors or retailers. It was also inspired by reports of vaporizers designed to appear to be school supplies.

“When vape pens can be engineered in the form of school supplies to conceal its identity, the device can be hidden in plain sight so parents or adults won’t recognize it as an e-cigarette,” Michelle Stiff, president of the Joliet Township High School District 204 board.

“There has been an alarming increase of e-cigarette use by high school students," Stiff said in a statement. "We are seeing far too many student discipline cases related to vaping. This is why there needs to be a comprehensive and collaborative approach to lessen the accessibility of sale and marketing of vape products.”

Illinois has a relatively low prevalence of adult vape users compared to other states, with just 2.4 percent of vaping adults the lowest rate of any state from which data was available, according to Drugwatch. However, among teens, the vaping rate of nearly 20 percent ranks Illinois 36th out of the 43 states where data was available.

Related:

• Ban On Disguised Vapes Heads To Full Illinois Senate
• Shipping E-Cigarettes Into Illinois Now Banned Under New Law
• Mayor Snuffs Out Vape Ban Proposed By Lake Forest High School Students
• Indoor Vaping Ban Take Effect Next Month Thanks To Local State Senator