TOPEKA — CBD merchant Eric Kueser launched a company to sell electronic cigarettes from vending machines and wants the Kansas Legislature to change state law to help the business flourish.
Kueser urged lawmakers to amend Kansas statutes to end a prohibition on sale of e-cigarettes and related vaping materials in wall-mounted vending machines. The Topeka businessman’s logic was that if merchants could sell these products over the counter at convenience stores, fairness dictated bars or clubs in Kansas ought to have the right to offer consumers the same products in a vending machine.
He said enactment of the bill could enable him to expand his business from Topeka to Wichita, Lawrence, Manhattan and Junction City. In addition, he estimated there was a 60% profit margin on vape sales.
“This bill has absolutely nothing to do with CBD, THC or any other intoxicating products sold in CBD stories. This is just about nicotine,” Kueser said.
He asked members of the House Federal and State Affairs Committee to consider the plight of a vape aficionado who didn’t have materials necessary to consume liquid nicotine in vapor form while hunkered down at a bar.
“What would you prefer? You could get in your car after you’ve been drinking and go get a vape and come back to the bar. Or you could just walk over to the machine on the wall and buy one and then call for your Uber later to go home,” Kueser said.
Under current state law, packs of 20 class A cigarettes were allowed to be legally sold out of a vending machine. The statute forbids cigars, smokeless tobacco as well as candy or “other items” to be marketed via vending devices.
House Bill 2094 would open the door to vending machine sales of vaping products to anyone 21 years of age or older. One estimate from an opponent of the bill indicated there might be 200 tobacco vending machines in operation statewide. However, Rep. Tom Kessler, the Republican chairman of the House committee and owner of Tom’s Wine & Spirits in Wichita, said there were 57 licensed cigarette vending machines in Kansas.
A trio of organizations — Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition, American Lung Association and American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network — opposed the bill.
Kari Rinker, who chairs the policy committee of Tobacco Free Kansas, said inserting e-cigarettes in vending machines located at public places would entice underage Kansans to seek new ways to circumvent restrictions. She said youth forbidden from legally purchasing these products had been targeted by the tobacco industry’s “deceptive marketing and sales practices.”
“Offering broader and potential unassisted e-cigarette access via vending machines will result in easier youth access,” Rinker said.
Megan Word, representing Cancer Action Network advocacy interests in Kansas, said e-cigarettes were the most used tobacco product among U.S. middle and high school students in 2024.
Among students who used e-cigarettes, she said, 88% said they relied on flavored vape products and one-fourth indicated they used e-cigarettes daily.
“Nicotine poses unique dangers to youth in several notable ways,” Word said. “Nicotine can harm brain development, which continues until about age 25. Youth show signs of nicotine addiction quickly, sometimes before the start of regular or daily use.”
Sara Prem, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in Kansas and Greater Kansas City, said it didn’t make sense for Kansas to open a new pathway for acquiring e-cigarettes.
“Instead of creating additional distribution channels for e-cigarette devices, batteries and cartridges, we would recommend removing tobacco vending machines as a distribution channel entirely,” Prem said.
