Woodbridge Severely Limits Where Vape Pens Can Be Sold

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — After Tuesday night, it will be much more difficult to find places to purchase e-cigarettes and vape pens in Woodbridge Township.

That's because at their April 25 meeting, the Woodbridge Council is set to approve an ordinance that will significantly limit where in Woodbridge vape pens can be sold.

The new law makes Woodbridge one of the most restrictive towns in the state for the sale of vape pens and e-cigs, although Highland Park and Piscataway both passed similar anti-vaping crackdowns a few years ago.

Tuesday night will be the second and final hearing. Mayor John McCormac told the Home News-Tribune the town is doing this after residents said they were concerned about teenagers having easy access to vape pens.

In Woodbridge, vape pens/e-cigarettes will not be allowed to be sold within 1,000 feet of any of the following:

a. Nursery schools
b. Pre-schools
c. Child, adult, or special needs day-care centers
d. Elementary, middle, or high schools
e. State or county universities or colleges
f. Other schools not falling within the definition of Subsection (2)(a) through (e); g. Funeral homes
h. Health services facilities
i. Other Retail Electronic Device Establishments
j. Assisted living facilities
k. Church or other places of worship, Sunday school, church or religious school

l. Parks, playgrounds, and commercial recreational facilities.

Woodbridge said it is doing this because "electronic cigarettes and nicotine e-liquids, so called 'vaping devices' have become popular with young people largely as a result of e-cigarette companies marketing flavors that are intended to get children addicted to nicotine. The municipal Council finds that it is in the Township's best interest that it regulate the sale of those electronic tobacco devices in order to protect the health and welfare of the public by reducing the availability of these products to minors and reduce the likelihood that minors will become addicted to nicotine."