Less than 24 hours after Governor Charlie Baker announced a four-month ban on all vaping products in Massachusetts, e-cigarette company JUUL already has disabled shipping options online to Massachusetts addresses.
A notice greeted customers on JUUL’s website Wednesday morning announcing: “Note: To comply with state and local laws, we cannot ship to addresses in Massachusetts.”
Many customers wrote on Reddit that they were seeing the notice as early as Tuesday night.
The move comes after Baker declared a public health emergency Tuesday, a response to the vaping-related illnesses that have been cropping up nationwide. In its most recent update on Sept. 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated about 530 confirmed cases. Nine people have reportedly died in connection to the illness.
Baker’s ban, which went into effect immediately, will last through Jan. 25.
JUUL also announced Wednesday that its CEO has stepped down, and the company will be ending its advertising campaigns and lobbying efforts.
Austin Finan, a spokesman for JUUL, said in an e-mail that the company will comply with any applicable local laws, but it doesn’t support bans on vaping products like the one Baker put in place.
“Removing e-cigarettes from the market will create a thriving black market of counterfeit and compatible products, made with unknown ingredients under unknown manufacturing standards, drive former adult smokers who successfully use vapor products back to cigarettes and deny the opportunity for current adult smokers to have alternatives,” Finan said.
Felicia Gans can be reached at felicia.gans@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @FeliciaGans.