Law sees 'vaping' same as smoking

Oregon has begun regulating electronic cigarettes in ways similar to tobacco cigarettes, banning sales to minors and the use of the devices in indoor public spaces and workplaces.

But some people who use e-cigarettes say the new law, signed by Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday, is an overreach.

E-cigarettes and the liquids they vaporize are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and their long-term health effects are unknown — as are the often unlisted ingredients of the liquids, or "e-juice." Unlike combustible cigarettes, there's no burning in e-cigarettes. Instead, a coil inside the device heats up the e-juice, turning it into cloud-like vapor.

Preliminary testing of e-juices has found chemicals known to cause birth defects and cancer, said Karen Girard, OHA's health promotion and chronic disease prevention manager.

Some e-juices contain nicotine, at varying amounts, and flavorings — the pairing of which makes e-cigarettes both attractive and harmful to children, critics say.

Use of e-cigarettes — or "vaping," as it is known — tripled among youths from 2013 to 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of high school students using e-cigarettes was 13.4 percent in 2014, up from 4.5 percent in 2013. The middle school percentage also surged — to 3.9 percent in 2014, from 1.1 percent in 2013.

In Oregon, 11th graders' use of e-cigarettes rose 150 percent between 2011 and 2013, Girard said.

Keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of minors is a simple concept that has consensus among vapers and nonvapers alike. Many vape shops, like head shops, operate as 18-and-older businesses.

The same is true for South Salem's I-Vape, which is Joey Kim's second vape shop. Kim agrees with the law that vaping should not be a kids' activity, but he doesn't believe that flavors that sound like candy target children.

"I think that's bogus," he said. "I have no interest in kids' lunch money. ... Who's to say adults don't like cherry flavor? Or strawberry?"

Kim also doesn't like that the new law now makes it much more difficult to vape in public.

Starting Jan. 1, 2016, vaping will be prohibited in movie theaters, restaurants, offices, bars or malls — in the same way smoking is already banned in those places. In addition, the Oregon Health Authority is required to make rules on child-safe packaging and preventing the marketing of e-cigarettes to kids.

While many states have banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, Oregon is the fifth to roll vaping into its Clean Air Act.

Logan Bell, 18, who works at I-Vape, said he began vaping when he was 16, because it was cleaner than cigarettes. He said he had friends who were 18 who had vape pens, a type of e-cigarette.

"I just felt more healthy about it," he said. "I didn't smell disgusting."

His favorite flavor is candy apple-strawberry, he said.

Vaping at the vape shop with his friends while watching Netflix has improved his lifestyle, Bell said. Before, he was hanging out at illegal car races, where "bad things" happened.

Currently, he vapes in movie theaters and restaurants. He used to vape at his second job, at the Safeway gas station in South Salem, until his boss told him to stop. He said he wasn't worried about the new law that would no longer allow him to vape in those places.

"I do it because I like to do it for fun," he said. "I'm not addicted to it whatsoever."

Many vapers claim that e-cigarettes helped them quit smoking cigarettes, but that claim is not backed up by the FDA, which approves smoking-cessation devices.

Kim said he used to smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day before he started vaping. Now he has quit smoking, he feels healthier and more fit, he said.

Dan Carroll, a patron at I-Vape, told a similar story.

However, OHA's Girard said, the opposite could be true. Youths who may not otherwise start smoking are being introduced to nicotine addiction through e-cigarettes, she said.

A study showed that youths who had tried e-cigarettes were twice as likely to try conventional cigarettes, Girard said.

"This is a real win for protecting Oregon's kids," Girard said.

syoo@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6673 or follow at Twitter.com/syoo.





About the new e-cigarette law

House Bill 2546 bans sales of e-cigarettes to minors, vaping in cars in the presence of children and adds e-cigarettes to Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act. It also directs the Oregon Health Authority to create rules on child-safe packaging and marketing to kids. Except for the Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act part the law went into effect immediately.