PHOENIX 鈥 The state should impose far more restrictions on teens鈥 access to vaping products, a veteran lawmaker says.
Legislation introduced by Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, would for the first time regulate as tobacco both the devices used as well as the inserts that carry the nicotine-delivering liquids. That, in turn, would subject everyone from manufacturers to retailers 鈥 and users 鈥 to the same laws that now make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone younger than 18.
It also would give the Attorney General鈥檚 Office, which now runs 鈥渟ting鈥 operations on retailers to see if they鈥檙e checking ID on cigarette purchases, the power to do the same when someone is selling vaping devices and liquid refills.
Carter鈥檚 proposal, SB 1009, is aimed solely at preventing teen use of vaping devices.
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But lawmakers also will consider a separate bill on vaping that would affect adults.
HB 2024, introduced by Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, would add vaping to existing laws which prohibit smoking in public areas, including offices, bars, restaurants, stores, theaters and the common areas of hotels and apartments.
But Kavanagh has an additional hurdle that Carter does not face: The original Smoke Free Arizona Act was approved by voters in 2006. That means it can be amended only if he can get three-fourths of both the House and Senate 鈥 meaning 45 representatives and 23 senators 鈥 to approve.
Vaping devices, originally marketed as a way to help adults quit smoking, have rapidly become popular with teens, which Carter sees as the biggest problem.
鈥淒ue to slick hypermarketing campaigns, most students think that these products pose no risk,鈥 she said. Add to that the ease of purchase, not just at stores but on the internet.
Surveys of Arizona high schoolers show that teen use within the previous month went from 17 percent in 2016 to 26 percent last year.
鈥淓ssentially, e-cigarettes, vapes, e-pens or whatever else you want to call them, have become the training wheels to develop future smokers,鈥 Carter said.
A 2013 law created a definition of 鈥渧apor products鈥 with the intent of making them off-limits. 鈥淭he law was obsolete before it was passed,鈥 she said, saying that鈥檚 why she opposed it at the time.
She said that statute failed to account for changes in technology from original e-cigarettes to high-tech vaping devices, to the point that questions remain whether it鈥檚 OK to sell the devices to teens separate from the nicotine-infused inserts.
Her proposed legislation would expand existing laws that regulate tobacco sales to include all types of 鈥渆lectronic smoking devices鈥 as well as 鈥渁ny component, part or accessory of the device, whether or not sold separately.鈥 Carter said that covers retail sales and also should do away with people鈥檚 ability to order the devices online, where age cannot be checked.
A news conference Tuesday to provide details of the legislation also included a self-proclaimed 鈥渕ea culpa鈥 from Will Humble, the former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.
鈥淵ears ago, when e-cigarettes were brand new, I really thought the product had a chance of actually being a public health benefit by giving active adult smokers a pathway off their tobacco addiction and transitioning to a tobacco-free life,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 could not have been more wrong.鈥
Humble, now executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, said the devices provide 鈥渘o public health benefit that I can tell鈥 and have been unexpectedly attractive to teens.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge public health threat by addicting an entire generation of young people to nicotine products,鈥 Humble said.
He said many of these devices have nicotine levels far higher than anyone would get from tobacco products themselves.
鈥淪o these young minds are being hard-wired right now to these nicotine products through electronic cigarettes,鈥 he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 impairing their ability to learn at schools. It鈥檚 interrupting their classroom and it鈥檚 addicting our kids.鈥
Humble said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been slow to regulate these devices. As far as he is concerned, they should be classified by federal authorities as 鈥渘icotine delivery devices,鈥 a move he said could require they be sold by prescription only.
