Oregon House Passes Ban on Online and Phone Sales of Vaping Products

February 13 news: According to foreign media reports, a bill aimed at banning all online and telephone sales of vaping products in Oregon has passed the House. Supporters of the bill said it is intended to curb the popularity of vaping among young people.

The bill’s chief sponsor, Representative Pam Marsh, said: “In 2018, I held a mock legislative competition in my district. I received many interesting and valuable submissions, but the entry submitted by a group of students from Ashland High School stood out. These students reported that, despite age restrictions, their peers were still able to obtain e-cigarettes by ordering them online. They said we should ban internet sales. They were right.”

Lawmakers cited reports from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which showed a sharp rise in youth vaping in recent years. OHA said that one in four 11th-grade students in Oregon reported using nicotine vaping products, and overall youth use of e-cigarettes increased by 80% from 2017 to 2019.

According to reports, the 2019 Oregon Healthy Teens Survey, also from OHA, found that 71% of young people who used traditional tobacco products had started with electronic vaping products.

Abby Durant, a high school student from Grants Pass, said in testimony to lawmakers: “If I really wanted to get a vaping product, I could. It’s not hard.”

Nurse practitioner and another sponsor of the legislation, Representative Rachel Prusak, said she is tired of seeing her patients die early and painfully because of the effects of tobacco.

Representative Prusak said: “Recognizing that most tobacco and nicotine users become addicted at a young age, I strongly support policies designed to create barriers to access for youth, and I also support further recommendations to regulate and legislate e-cigarettes in the same way as combustible cigarettes.”

The bill passed the House by a vote of 41 to 18. Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while Republicans were largely opposed, with only a few crossing party lines to support it. House Bill 4078 has now been sent to the Senate for consideration.

If passed, the policy will be enforced by the Tobacco Enforcement Unit of the Oregon Department of Justice.