What's going on?

The US government announced plans to ban all sales of flavored e-cigarettes late on Wednesday, while big developments also emerged for companies dealing in opioids and alcohol.

What does this mean?

Following six deaths and 450 reported cases of vaping-related lung illnesses, the federal government now plans to follow Michigan�s lead in outlawing non-tobacco flavored smokes. The exact cause of the health problems remains uncertain, but with e-cigarettes crucial to the future of big tobacco companies � especially given their popularity among young customers � any restriction on their use could be damaging for the wellbeing of producers� stock prices.

A more confident connection has been drawn between opioid-based painkillers and an addiction crisis that has led to the deaths of over 200,000 Americans. And on Thursday, drugmaker Purdue Pharma agreed provisional multi-billion-dollar agreements with around half of US states that further acknowledged its role � and would see it restructure via bankruptcy in order to avoid federal trial.

Why should I care?

For markets: It�s one rule for us…
Privately owned Purdue has argued that US authorities approved addiction warning labels on its OxyContin painkillers. But there hasn�t been any such approval for e-cigarettes, with Philip Morris�s iQOS merely �cleared for sale� and Juul � into which Altria invested $13 billion � slammed just this week for illegal marketing. The two devices� tobacco-giant backers are still in talks to re-merge, and may now accelerate those plans in order to better deal with harsher regulation; the share prices of both are sitting near multi-year lows, while a major rival is cutting jobs.

The bigger picture: � and another for them.
While around 11 million Americans vape, it�s proportionally more popular in the UK, where over three million people regularly puff away at e-cigarettes � and health authorities continue to advocate their usefulness in quitting traditional smoking. Still, alcohol remains the world�s depressant of choice � and the world�s biggest brewer on Thursday refloated debt-draining plans to sell $5 billion of shares of its Asian subsidiary.