So here's the thing. In the real world, when it comes to protecting public health, experts don't go buy what they read on internet forums. Or what their friendly neighborhood vape shop owner told them. Or what Big Tobacco/Big Vape pushes with their PR firms. They go by evidence-backed research and data. All of which was absent when people started dropping dead from using vapes.

When this whole thing began, no one had any hard evidence to prove what you just said. And there were conflicting reports, of people using legally purchased tobacco vapes and vape products. The ban gave the public heath experts time to sort through the data and systematically determine the source of the outbreak.