Yes, I saw the recent Siena Research Institute Poll that found 78 percent of the people think vaping is a “serious health problem” and 61 percent support the executive order to ban all flavored vaping liquid. But, what the media didn’t glom onto, was the fact the poll also found that 81 percent of the respondents are in favor of regulating vaping in the same way the government regulates cigarettes.
Also, the poll, while addressing all sorts of other health related topics associated with drug and alcohol use, never asked if people were in favor of banning cigarettes.
I will admit, nobody is really sure of the long term effects of vaping even the legal, safe stuff. Cigarettes, though, are proven to take years off a life. Yet, you can still buy a pack of Camel lights at any store at any time.
What most people don’t know, and what the poll didn’t point out, is that vaping products in this state are already regulated the same as cigarettes. Unless you are 21, you can’t even walk into a vape shop that sells flavored juice let alone legally purchase anything. You can still buy tobacco flavored vape products anywhere and that will still be the case should the executive order signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo survive judicial scrutiny.
Speaking of that, as you are probably aware, the austere Appellate Division of the Third Department agreed to uphold the request for an injunction made by the Vaping Technology Association. That injunction will hold until at least Oct. 18 when the two sides are set to present oral arguments. Then, though, the panel of judges will take some time to issue a ruling and then it will probably get kicked up or down the judicial ladder so there is a good chance it could be beyond the 90 days the “emergency” executive order is set to expire.
In other words, by the time the case is heard and ruled upon, the issue might be already back in front of the Legislature.
I guess Cuomo succeeded politically. He got a lot of free ink out of the deal. It didn’t, though, stop one underage kid from getting flavored e-liquid and it didn’t stop one drug dealer from selling THC e-liquid cartridges laced with the stuff that is killing people.
Jim Franco can be reached at 518-878-1000 or by email at [email protected]
