March 27th, 2014
From: R Street
The Vermont Legislature is considering a new (vastly higher) tax on e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco that would treat them very much like cigarettes. The revenue Vermont hopes to raise—$1.3 million—is relatively paltry. I doubt that it’s good policy for at least three reasons:
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3. High cigarette taxes tend to create black markets that, in turn, fuel serious crime. It’s quite probable that much higher taxes on smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes will do the same thing in some cases.
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March 13th, 2014
From: National Review
Why do bodies concerned with public health want to block smokers’ best chance of quitting?
By Gilbert Ross
Anyone with a modicum of knowledge regarding public health will agree that the most important, devastating, and preventable threat to human health we face is cigarettes. Smokers trying to quit have an extremely difficult time: Less than 10 percent succeed without help, and the various FDA-approved products are of little help, if any. Over the past few years, a new technology has been taken up by millions seeking an escape from deadly smoke: electronic cigarettes (e-cigs, also known as ENDS, electronic nicotine-delivery systems).
March 6th, 2014
From: The Christian Science Monitor
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to prohibit e-cigarettes wherever regular tobacco products are banned. Supporters of the e-cigarette industry say such laws are premature.
By Gloria Goodale
Los Angeles. Do e-cigarettes endanger the health of their users and secondhand inhalers and therefore require strict regulation, or are they a safer alternative to conventional lit cigarettes whose growing popularity should be welcomed?
On Tuesday Los Angeles took the plunge into this national debate, with a unanimous City Council vote to prohibit e-cigarettes wherever regular tobacco products are banned.
February 27th, 2014
From: The Press-Enterprise
BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
When Mike Pulice of Temecula decided to try electronic cigarettes two years ago, he had to go online to buy the rechargeable, battery-operated, pen-sized vaporizer that turns flavored, scented liquid into a nicotine-laced inhalable steam.
Brick-and-mortar stores were nowhere to be found in 2012, said Pulice, 47, a software consultant and developer.
“When I started, there was nothing in Temecula or even San Diego,” he said in a telephone interview.
