V for Victory
Some vape battles have ended in victory, their impact on the on-going war remains uncertain.
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by Dave Cross
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The legislators of Hattiesburg voted unanimously to ban vaping from all public buildings in June. “We're just trying to keep pace with the technology that is out there. We already have the ban on tobacco cigarettes, so it only seemed prudent to update the ordinance to reflect current smoking devices,” instigator Brad Amacker said at the time.
Flushed with smugness, their joy was short-lived as Mayor Hal Marx announced his intention to use his veto to overturn the bill. In his role as the champion of the people, Marx said: “government should not be the entity that controls how businesses operate.”
Marx’ stand pushed the lawmakers into dropping bans from being applied to vape businesses. The mayor said: “In those scenarios, like with Smokey's Tobacco, people know what they are getting into and what is in store when they walk in a place like that.”
Up in Canada the Ontario health ministry have had to step in to defend vapers. Despite being the body behind the new Electronic Cigarettes Act they have moved to instruct businesses that they can’t use the current smoking ban to justify a ban on vaping.
“The act doesn't apply to e-cigarettes,” said spokesperson David Jensen. Although there is a proposal to ban vaping from all public areas and businesses under the act no enforcement date has been put in place and it won’t be until 2016 at the earliest. Due to the ludicrous extent of the act’s implications commentators are saying it won’t be able to be implemented at all.
But it is the news from California that should elicit a round of Iain Duncan-Smith fist-pumping.
“No tobacco product should be exempt from California's smoke-free laws simply because it's sold in a modern or trendy disguise,” said Senator Mark Leno when announcing his ridiculous anti-ecig bill.
Being far less funny than his TV namesake, he continued: “Whether you get people hooked on e-cigarettes or regular cigarettes, it's nicotine addiction and it kills. We're going to see hundreds of thousands of family members and friends die from e-cigarette use, just like we did from traditional tobacco use.”
He was much funnier as he stormed out of the chamber, shouting as he went, after committee members gutted his daft proposals by a vote of 11 to 3. In a victory for common sense, one key part removed was the provision designating eliquid as a tobacco product. Leno has yet to say what his legion of Big Pharma sponsors have to say on the matter.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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