E-smoke ban stops short

The Feb. 13 editorial, “Advances on public health front welcome,” talks about the ban in Spokane regarding the sales of E-cigarettes to minors. This is one step forward in the solution to this problem, but I think it needs to be taken further. E-cigarettes should be regulated and sold exactly the same as traditional cigarettes.

The E-cigarette companies are to blame for this problem. E-cigarettes are still addictive and shouldn’t be treated any differently than traditional cigarettes.

The one major flaw with the bans that have already been put in place is that the primary market for E-cigarettes is online. Minors can easily get online and get their hands on these products. The best solution to fixing the problem of E-cigarette sales to minors is by moving sales from online completely into a store-based market.

This move would make it easier to regulate the sales of the product, making sure that it was more difficult for minors to purchase them. One negative outcome, though, is that minors might revert to buying traditional cigarettes. Though if stores continue to strictly regulate the sales of cigarettes, as they should be, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem at all.

Joshua D. Hollinger-Lant

Cheney