PORTLAND, ORE. — Several Portland-area vape stores plan to close for good on Tuesday because of Oregon's six-month ban on flavored vaping products.
On Tuesday, all flavored tobacco and cannabis vaping products will be banned from online and retail stores in Oregon. The Center for Disease Control said as of October 8, 26 people have died from lung illnesses linked to vaping, including two in Oregon.
In Washington, which has also enacted a ban on flavored vaping products:
KENNEWICK, Wash. -- A Kennewick mother recently released from Kadlec hospital is warning others to quit vaping before it's too late.
26-year-old Jocelyn Schaben says she began vaping to quit smoking after learning she was pregnant a few months ago. She tells Action News she thought she was making the right decision until a few weeks ago.
"I didn't put two and two together until I got this sick. I didn't really think it'd happen to me because I'm young," she says through labored breath. "You're better off smoking. I can never smoke again with my lungs."
Well, that's one way to kick the habit.
"When you think of our parents, they smoked 40 years before they saw lung problems like this. Jocelyn smoked a few months and she's left with permanently damaged lungs."
She spent eight days in the hospital, and she still can't do anything; can't even go up the stairs. She spends her time at home lying on a couch, hooked up to an I.V. setup that delivers antibiotics. But if folks want to have the lungs of a 70 year-old in short order, vaping seems to be the way to go.
