The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Restrictions focus of proposed laws
Connecticut lawmakers are sounding the alarm on teen vaping and tobacco use with a wave of legislation that would impose further restrictions on the products and attempt to curb youth access as states across the country are taking up similar measures.
Bills introduced from both sides of the aisle or with bipartisan support include raising the minimum age for buying electronic cigarettes and tobacco products from 18 to 21, banning flavored vapor products, and taxing vapor delivery systems and related goods.
Public Health Committee co-chairman Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, said lawmakers on the panel will primarily try to move legislation focused on raising the age of consumption of both tobacco and vaping products.
“But that’s only the beginning, there are any number of other bills that deal with flavoring and access, helping schools deal with the crisis, very interesting sort of portfolio of different things we could look at,” Steinberg said.
The magnitude of the state’s teen vaping problem became evident this week when the Board of Education released a report showing that there has been a six-fold increase in the number of suspensions and expulsions related to vaping in Connecticut schools, from 349 disciplinary actions taken in the 2015-16 school year to 2,160 last year. The problem is so significant, state officials said, the state Department of Education has asked the state departments of public health and mental health and addiction services to help educators respond.
Lawmakers share these concerns, and are pushing for regulations that would tackle tobacco and vaping products from multiple angles.
Those measures include increasing fines and penalties for the illegal sale of tobacco and e-cigarette products to underage people, banning smoking and vaping on beaches, and prohibiting flavored vapor product advertisements and marketing to minors.
“Vaping companies are using flavors to seem kidfriendly,” Sen. Mary Abrams, D-Meriden, cochairwoman of the Public Health Committee, said Thursday. “There is nothing friendly about nicotine.”
Abrams said she hopes Connecticut adults who used flavored e-cigarettes would support removing them from the market as a means to stop children from becoming addicted.
“We must stop today’s youth from becoming tomorrow’s customers,” she said.
State Rep. William Petit, who serves as a ranking member on the Public Health Committee, said vaping represents a major public health issue that lawmakers have to tackle.
“I assume that everybody, like me, is hearing about it in their localities from teachers, principals, superintendents, and junior high schools and high schools,” Petit said.
The push in Connecticut to keep battery-powered e-cigarettes out of the hands of young people comes as U.S. health officials are calling the issue an “epidemic.” Federally funded research shows vaping has surged among teens.
In November, the Food and Drug Administration said it will move to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, and tighten rules regarding the sale of flavored versions of vaping products.