(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Montana tried loosening vaping restrictions, but may not be checking youth access to products – Daily Montanan [1] ['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- April'] Date: 2023-04-23 As the federal government tightens regulations around tobacco and nicotine products, classifying them as illegal to sell to those less than the age of 21, Montana seems to be going in the opposite direction. Different states reacted and approached the change to age 21 differently. Montana may not be doing enforcement checks, especially on retailers that sell vaping products, the vast majority of which contain nicotine. Some lawmakers have even asserted because the state hasn’t official changed its own laws to 21 that it’s still legal to sell to 18- to 20-year-olds. The Daily Montanan on several occasions requested data from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services on the compliance checks, but did not receive a response. Some Montana lawmakers, like Rep. Ron Marshall, R-Hamilton, who is also a vape shop owner, has pushed to decouple vaping products from tobacco rules, claiming that not all vaping devices contain nicotine, the addictive component found in cigarette tobacco and vaping products. House Bill 293, carried by Marshall, would have decoupled vaping products. The measure narrowly squeaked through the House on a 49-to-48 vote with many Republicans joining Democrats in opposing the measure. HB 293 died on April 4 in a Senate committee when it was tabled — again by a narrow vote, 5-to-4, likely ending the bill’s chances during the 2023 session. However, opponents to the legislation say that Montana is dragging its feet at enforcement, allowing stores and retailers to sell to residents under the age of 21. Because of that, they say accessibility to vaping and nicotine is easier than it should be for most school-age youth. Even more importantly, though, they say that talk about distancing vaping and nicotine from tobacco products also gives a dangerous and false sense that the products are less harmful or addictive than tobacco. “We don’t have to change state law, we just have to enforce it,” said Megan Boelter, Western Regional Director of the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation. Montana leaders would also not comment on enforcement efforts or how they’re enforcing the rule change from 18- to 21-year-olds. From smoking to vaping Kristin Page-Nei, the American Cancer Society’s Government Relations Director for Montana and Wyoming, said that history is repeating itself. Several decades ago, anti-tobacco organizations shifted marketing and education campaigns from just focusing on getting youth to stop smoking to messaging younger children who have never tried about staying away from it completely. With more education, fewer kids took up the habit. “We know it’s very tough to quit and we disincentivized youth from starting,” Page-Nei said. The new education approach worked, and the drop in youth smoking was noticeable to tobacco companies, which looked to market their products differently, and were aided by technology. That led to the creation of vaping products that lost some of tobacco’s harmful side effects, like tar from smoke, but upped the amount of nicotine that could be ingested. And health experts warned: Vaping could still damage lungs. A rapid increase on taxes helped some kick the cigarette habit, as funding increased for smoking cessation programs, often funded through settlements with large tobacco companies. However, Page-Nei said that even as these efforts were ongoing, electronic cigarettes were increasing popularity, distribution and decreasing in price. State policy contributing to the problem Leaders said that state policy continues to undercut some of the benefits of education. For example, vaping became more “socially normalized” because it was seen as less dangerous than smoking and not prohibited by the Clean Indoor Air Act, giving the impression that it may be safer. However, Page-Nei told the Daily Montana that 90% of long-term tobacco users start before the age of 18, and that 12- to 15 year-olds who begin to vape are at higher risk. She said that age group is usually where coping mechanisms and anti-stress techniques begin, aligning perfectly with the marketing of vaping products. Many young kids take up the habit to deal with stress, and the tension of the COVID-19 pandemic has only seemed to increase the pressure. Amanda Cahill, a public health educator at the University of Montana, said that few, if any, of the smoking products on the shelves of gas stations or vape shops don’t contain nicotine – that’s their allure. “People think because they call it ‘juice’ or ‘aerosol’ that it doesn’t contain nicotine,” she said. But it is just using propylene glycol and exhaling. Page-Nei said instead of viewing the industry as tobacco-based, instead it should be considered a nicotine industry with synthetic nicotine being smoother and more palatable than tobacco. Cahill is concerned that one disposal vaping stick or pen has as much nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes, so it’s more concentrated and therefore more addictive without any of the harshness of tobacco smoke. “Some of the teens say that they’re using them to stay awake when the reality is they’re signing up for a lifetime of addiction,” she said. Effects still unknown Cigarette commercials from the 1950s and earlier often touted the benefits of smoking – it was suggested as a cure-all for colds, even asthma and breathing problems before long-term research started to show the devastating problems associated with tobacco, including lung cancer, emphysema and cancers of the digestive track. The health educators, though, worry that the full effects of vaping won’t be conclusive or well understood for years, if not decades – in a pattern that could follow a similar historical trajectory to cigarettes where cancer, emphysema and other long-term health problems showed up decades after a smoker began the habit. Furthermore, Boelter said the effects of considerably more nicotine, more often by young adults and children, is not well understood. “They’re doing it to cope, so there’s a concern there about a mental health crisis,” Boelter said. Policy recommendations Anti-vaping and anti-tobacco organizations said that during this legislative session, they’ve been put in a defensive position rather than educating leaders about the dangers. In addition to trying to decouple vaping products from being regulated like tobacco, the lawmakers also considered measures like repealing the Montana Clean Indoors Air Act, which prohibits smoking in all public places, including bars and restaurants. Instead, they said that two of the ways to combat the problem include more robust enforcement checks to make sure products are not being sold to anyone under 21, and increasing the tax on vaping products. “In Montana, we need to tax,” Page-Nei said. “We know kids are price sensitive.” She also said that schools also need to stress to parents that vaping isn’t safe, and also increase funding for cessation. They point out that Montana is the target of more than $30 million in tobacco marketing, so the state’s response in countermarketing should be that robust. For example, many of the vaping products are clip-on, or have pictures of cartoon figures. Some look like hand sanitizers that you’d find for lockers or backpacks. Others have charging capabilities that make them look a lot like USB thumbdrives, Cahill said. “I don’t know many 40-year-olds who want a ‘Hello Kitty’ vape holder,” Boelter said. “We have an opportunity to roll these measures back and help an entire generation. But in Montana, we’re taking a step backwards.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/04/23/montana-tried-loosening-vaping-restrictions-but-may-not-be-checking-youth-access-to-products/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/