Macomb Township has become the latest area to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors andthe possession of e-cigarettes by underage persons, but that’s not the only disappointingnews.The Macomb Township Board of Trustees jumped on the bandwagon and it appears theyalso fancy climbing onto a gravy train too. The ordinance was introduced by Trustee CliffordFreitas and reported by candgnews.com. The website report describes e-cigarettes as “thetrendy new tobacco product.” They include that description without even questioning whythey’re doing so when e-cigarettes are tobacco free.In an interview with the website , Freitas admitted that the actions that were taken were notthe result of any existing problems in the community. So no problems at all but they decideto take up valuable time to pass unneeded and unwanted legislation. Freitas simply wantsto take preventative measures until the use of e-cigarettes by minor is regulated at federal orstate level. “We just don’t want our teenagers getting their hands on e-cigarettes.” Freitasexplains. He adds that the ordinance is “kind of protecting them from themselves.” He alsowanted to make sure businesses in the area knew they can’t sell e-cigarettes to minors.”The ordinance includes a $50 fine for minors who are caught in possession of e-cigarettes.That’s minors who are much better off using e-cigarettes than sticking a poisonous tobaccocigarette in their mouths. However money-crazy Freitas made a motion at the meeting toincrease the proposed fine for retailers caught selling e-cigarettes to minors from $50 to$500. This of course in an area where no problems have been reported. The boardunanimously supported Freitas’ idea so why the big increase?Well he feels that a $50 fine is “not nearly harsh enough” so felt it perfectly ok to times thefine by ten. He added: “We wanted to be very clear that we will not allow this in ourcommunity”, that’s the community where no problem exists at present.If such a problem does develop it’s more than likely that it won’t be the e-cigarette industry atfault. Vaping lounges are renowned for not selling to minors or even allowing them on theirpremises. You see Mr Freitas, the e-cigarette industry can regulate itself without you tryingto cause trouble and make some money out of doing so. Take Colin Olson, for example,who owns ‘Vape Station’ in Lethbridge who says: “You probably will never find a vape shopthat will sell to minors because we don’t believe in it.”Freitas is also concerned that e-cigarettes can be used as a vessel for smoking the liquidsynthetic drug Cloud 9. That’s becoming popular with High School students but has nothingto do with the e-cigarette industry. If kids want to use that illegal drug they’ll find a way, theyalways do.Charlene McGunn, executive director of the Chippewa Valley Coalition for Youth andFamilies, applauded the introduction of the new ordinance saying: “We are very pleased tohear that they chose to pass this ordinance and protect our youth from this dangerous drug.”The misinformed official added that she believed e-cigarettes promote youth smoking (theydon’t and besides it’s vaping not smoking). She then showed just how uneducated she is bysaying “these companies try to advertise (e-cigarettes) as helping people quit smoking, but Idon’t see any research indicating that to be true.”No Madam, you probably don’t and it’s most likely because you’d hate to spend time lookingfor something positive wouldn’t you? How come she doesn’t know about Jonah Primrosewho started smoking at the age of 11 (and could have made Mr Freitas a fortune if caughtusing cigarettes) and did so for 26 years until starting to use e-cigarettes. He hasn’t smokedsince and says: “I haven’t had one single cigarette at all, which for me, is a miracle.”That’s just one of many examples all over the world where e-cigarettes have helped peoplequit smoking. Perhaps McGunn should spend some time doing some proper research on thesubject before gleefully congratulating Mr Freitas on his ordinance.In the article , Freitas saves his best garbage for last. He says: “This is really all about safety,so we’re treating e-cigarettes just like regular cigarettes, as they should be.”So we’re back to e-cigarettes being treated just like tobacco cigarettes. All this unneededlegislation does is make life difficult for the e-cigarette industry. That could lead to ex-smokers returning to smoking tobacco and undo a great deal of good work.