E-Cig Ban And Raised Age Possible In Columbia, MO

As opponents have noted, that means people old enough to vote and serve in the military would not be able to buy a pack of cigarettes in the city of Columbia legally. But First Ward Councilwoman Ginny Chadwick, sponsor of the bill, noted that alcohol — which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leads to 88,000 deaths annually — is regulated in the same fashion.

The CDC also reports that, including deaths attributed to second-hand smoke, cigarette smoking causes 480,000 deaths annually.

“As the most deadly product, why would we not restrict it as much as alcohol?” Chadwick said. Both the Columbia/Boone County Board of Health and the city’s Substance Abuse Advisory Commission have recommended passage of the new restrictions.

Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser, who served on council from 2005 to 2011 and was re-elected to the council last year, noted that she voted against Columbia’s ban on smoking when it came before the council in 2006. Nauser said she will “remain consistent” and vote against all three measures.

“I would certainly like to remain consistent and will vote against any ban, especially something that is unproven because it’s such a new thing, a new fad,” Nauser said.

Indeed, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids states in a fact sheet published this year that, because the strategy of increasing the sale age to 21 is a “relatively new strategy,” direct research on it is “somewhat limited.”

But the fact sheet also states that, based on calculations from the 2012 edition of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 95 percent of smokers pick up the habit before they turn 21 and 80 percent at least try smoking before they turn 18.

Nauser also said she doesn’t “get the logic” behind the fact that some of the same council members who would vote to support an ordinance to legalize the cultivation of small amounts of marijuana — which the council defeated 4-3 at its Oct. 20 meeting — would vote in support of Chadwick’s bills.

Fourth Ward Councilman Ian Thomas cast one of the three votes in favor of the marijuana cultivation bill, which was sponsored by Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe, and said he supports the intent behind Chadwick’s bills, but declined to say whether or not he would vote in favor of them.

With regard to Nauser’s view of his support for both the marijuana cultivation bill and Chadwick’s bills, Thomas said the marijuana cultivation bill would have addressed what he sees as excessive penalties for cultivation; the final version of the bill would have punished offenders who are growing as many as two plants with a $250 and would have allowed seriously ill people to grow the plants without facing a penalty. The bills coming before the council tomorrow night, he said, are good public health policy.

“In the case of tobacco, I think raising the age will be beneficial in the long run,” Thomas said.

The proposed legislation has attracted opposition from Keep Columbia Free, a group that promotes civil liberties. The Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association opposes the age increase specifically, but has remained neutral on the e-cigarettes issue, said Ron Leone, executive director of the association.

“We think the Columbia City Council has better things to do with their time than to restrict personal freedoms,” Leone said.

Leone also has argued that increasing the sale age will cost the city sales tax revenue by driving out would-be buyers of tobacco products who are too young to buy them, though he was unable to say how much market share local stores would lose as a result of the proposed ordinance. “Nobody knows,” Leone said.

According to a report published in September in the American Journal of Public Health, Harvard researchers found that people who are younger than 21 make up about 2 percent of tobacco product sales, though Leone said that percentage likely would be larger in Columbia, given its large student population.