Call to Action! Iowa Go Vote YES

Iowa: Ask Iowa State Senators to to Vote YES on HF 2109 with Dotzler Amendment (S-5088)

[HF 2109 with Amendment S-5088]

If enacted, this bill would:

• Ban sales of “vapor products” (e-cigarettes) and “alternative nicotine products” to minors. (In connection with “vapor products,” the Dotzler Amendment would ban e-cigarette sales to, and use by, minors of devices and e-cigarette liquid, including no-nicotine liquid.)
• NOT impose an additional tax on these these products
• NOT define these products to be “tobacco products” under Iowa law

HF 2109 (with Amendment S-5088) is a common-sense bill that CASAA generally supports.

Over the past year, the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and various other “public health” organizations have been out lobbying against enactment of bills that ban e-cigarette sales to minors. Why? CASAA Science Director Dr. Carl Phillips took on this issue here and here, but it boils down to this — these groups don’t just want e-cigarette sales banned to minors. They want e-cigarettes to be taxed and treated just like combustible cigarettes, and they are willing to stop a ban on sales of the product to minors if a bill doesn’t accomplish this goal.

We need Iowa vapers to respectfully encourage their senators to vote YES on HF 2109 (with Dotzler Amendment S-5088). It is a common-sense bill that bans sales to minors but doesn’t tax e-cigarettes, define them as “tobacco products,” or in any way restrict adult use. The only reservation CASAA has with this bill: While CASAA believes that sales to youth should be criminalized, we do not support criminalization of children for status offenses, which are often only enforced against selected individuals for purposes that have nothing to do with protecting the well-being of the child. We believe that the burden of compliance–and sanctions for noncompliance–should be squarely placed on retailers, not children.