Our view: Keep e-cigs from city youth

One of the biggest topics cities have worked to deal with during the last few years is how to legislate vaporizers and e-cigarettes.

The devices are a replacement for tobacco-based products, often touting them as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes.  While some places have taken to legislating them the same as tobacco products, Green River and much of Wyoming haven’t addressed the issue.

One of the problems associated with e-cigarette legislation is there tends to be a legal grey area regarding underage usage of the products. While they’re not sold to people younger than 18, possession of those products by minors also isn’t prohibited by law. A minor caught smoking a cigarette by a police officer faces receiving a citation and a fine. However, a minor caught using an e-cigarette device doesn’t face that same penalty because the devices don’t fit into the legal definition of a tobacco product.

What should be done is something to close that legal loophole, either at the municipal or state level. The state level, which of course would involve the Wyoming Legislature, would be the more appropriate venue because their decision would impact the state as a whole. There wouldn’t be a situation in enforcement where one town changes its municipal ordinances whereas the town down the road doesn’t. The change would be applied across the state.

As far as if the use of e-cigarettes should be allowed in public, law makers should let the science of the issue speak for itself. If there are harmful chemicals exhaled while using a device, then the use should be limited like cigarettes and other traditional tobacco products.

Even if the vapor isn’t harmful, personal responsibility should also factor into the issue as well, with people using electronic cigarettes acting responsible enough to respect the people around them.

A person shouldn’t walk around and inhale vapor just because the law is undecided. Folks should consider other people when using an e-cigarette device in public. If a business owner doesn’t mind employees or customers coming using vapor devices in their business, and the owner’s employees don’t mind, then they should have the right to allow it.

The same goes for a group of people having dinner together.

Going back to minors however, they shouldn’t be able to use them until they’re 18. That kind of restriction may not be in place yet, but it should be enacted.