Welcome to the Tech Policy Podcast. I'm Evan Schwarzenauer. On today's show, new hope for

e-vaporin users in Indiana. A federal judge said goodbye to an Indiana law that would have created a

monopoly in the sale of e-liquid, which is the main ingredient in e-cigarettes, e-vapor products, however

you want to refer to them. We've talked on this show in the past about the federal rules

that are impacting the industry, but of course there are also state approaches, and the states

vary differently in how they approach the issue of e-cigarettes. In Indiana had one approach

that a federal judge said was completely illegal.

Joining me to discuss this is Jared Meyer, research fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Jared,

thanks for joining the show. Hey, thanks for having me, Evan. So Jared, you usually come on the show only to talk about Uber, but I guess you know about other things too, huh? Oh, I just pick all the

fun things that government's trying to ruin, and E-liquT definitely falls into that category. It's a pretty great job. I study the fun things the government tries to ruin. I like that.

I really do. So Jared, before we jump into the ruling and why a federal judge felt the need to

step in in what should normally just be a state's purview to regulate something like this,

what was the law that was passed in Indiana? What did it do?

So most states, when they approach e-liquid or e-cigarettes, they apply a tax to them.

This was the first state that put its own regulatory standards forward, and they claimed to be doing so in the absence of federal action. But as most people know, the FDA's come in and

pretty much effectively banned 95% or 99% of the

E-liquid industry come two years from now. So that justification for Indiana seems less strong.

Yeah, since August, just so listeners know federal rules have taken effect. E-liquid or e-vapor

manufacturers have about two years to prove their products innocent,

there will be legislative efforts to try to undo this rule when the budget passes at the end of the

year. But for now, those federal rules are in place. So at least that justification in Indiana

seems mooted. Yeah. And if you look at how the law in Indiana was sold back when it was passed and signed by

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