The attorney general of Washington state is suing E-Juice Vapor, a California-based online retailer of e-cigarettes and supplies, over claims it targeted underage customers in its product marketing and failed to verify that its buyers were old enough to make the purchases.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court in Seattle on August 13. In it he argues E-Juice Vapor made a point of marketing the Candy King vape juice line in a way that would appeal to teens and children, highlighting the fruity flavors that mimic popular candies. Then the company sold the vape pods online without verifying the age of the customers – a violation of the state’s age verification regulations.

Ferguson also says E-Juice Vapor did not have a license to sell the Candy King vape juice in the state of Washington, according to a press release issued by his office.

Age Verification and Vaping Laws in Washington

The Washington State Legislature passed a law in 2016 packed with a host of new regulations on the e-cigarette sales industry. Among the measures were warning labels and childproof packaging requirements, mandatory disclosure of nicotine content and a ban on online sales to minors. The law also established a new licensing procedure – retailers and distributors would now be required to purchase a state license to sell e-cigarettes, vape juice cartridges and any other vaping paraphernalia, a news report by the News Tribune said.

To comply, online retailers must use an independent, third-party service to verify the age of any potential buyer before the transaction is completed, the state’s regulation say.

In 2019, the state of Washington raised the age of those who can legally purchase tobacco and vaping products to 21. It went into effect in January.

AG Investigated Candy King Vape Juice

According to the attorney general’s lawsuit, his office started investigating E-Juice Vapor in December. It began with one of the investigators looking over the retailer’s website and then navigating to the Candy King section of the online store. Once there, the investigator chose one of the items, a “Blue Razz by Candy King Bubblegum” vape juice vial, and proceeded to purchase it.

The attorney general’s complaint says the investigator was able to make the purchase without ever having to submit identification or verify age. E-Juice Vapor delivered the Candy King vape juice to the investigator around two weeks after the purchase was made.

During the investigation, the attorney general’s office also found that E-Juice Vapor’s website described the Candy King line of vape products as being designed “to suggest a flavor like Sour Patch Kids, Strawberry Sour Belts, Swedish Fish and Strawberry Watermelon Bubbalicious,” some of the most popular candy on the market, the lawsuit says.

“Take a gander … you will see they look precisely like sacks of your most loved candy,” the legal complaint quotes the website as saying.

In an interview with the CBS news affiliate in Seattle, KIRO7, Ferguson told a reporter his investigator “essentially posed as a minor” in the operation and went vape shopping online to see which retailers were breaking the law and how.

“It’s an important action to make sure that businesses follow our rules and do not sell vaping products to minors, and that’s exactly what happened here,” the station quoted him as saying.

“Bottom line, (E-Juice Vapor was) violating the law in multiple ways,” he also said.

In his press release, Attorney General Ferguson also said his office asked E-Juice Vapor to cooperate with the investigation in March by turning over some specific information the state wanted regarding the company’s sales in Washington. The company did not provide those records, Ferguson said.

Under the law, selling vaping products to anyone under the legal age is a felony that carries maximum fine of $5,000 per offense and the potential for as much as another $5,000 in civil penalties for each violation. Retailers also stand to lose their seller’s licenses, if they have one.

Previous Trouble for E-Juice Vapor, Candy King Vape Juice

The Washington lawsuit isn’t the first time E-Juice Vapor has been called out for its marketing practices.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to the company in 2018 for advertising Candy King Sour Worms vape juice in a way that “imitates food products, particularly ones that are marketed toward, and/or appealing to, children.”

And on May 31, 2019 the FDA announced that Candy King’s manufacturer, DripMore, was issuing a voluntary recall of four lots of its sour worms flavored vape juice because the vials were found to have a higher amount of nicotine in them than what appeared on the labeling. “The higher concentration of nicotine has the potential to cause immediate and potentially serious adverse health effects. Symptoms of nicotine over exposure may include nausea, vomiting, rapid heart rate, pale skin, headache, dizziness, confusion, and seizures,” the FDA reported.