Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wants to ban flavored e-cigarette products

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKRC) - Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will ask the General Assembly to ban flavored e-cigarette products. While DeWine was making his announcement inside the Capitol, a few hundred e-cigarette supporters and business owners gathered out front. Many said a flavored e-cigarette ban would put them out of business. One owner said prohibition will not work. "It didn't work with marijuana. It didn't work with alcohol. It didn't work with marijuana and it's not going to work with flavored vaping products. The only thing it's going to do is drive the market underground away from good manufacturing process and things of that nature," Allen Pfeuffer, who owns several vaping stores, said. Another vaping proponent says flavors are not the issue. "There are a lot of other issues with underage use. We see this with other industries that have a higher age limit or that also have flavors. So, when I became an adult, I did not lose my taste for flavors, and, unfortunately, asking me to go back to a tobacco-flavored liquid is like asking an alcoholic to go back to beer-flavored water," Anthony Romella, a vaping proponent said. DeWine said there's been a 135% increase in the use of e-cigarettes among high school students. More than one in four are currently reported to be vaping. He said in the short term, some vaping use has led to breathing illnesses and even death. DeWine said he has sent medical marijuana dispensaries the CDC alert on the recent outbreak which is associated with vaping, especially products containing THC. In the long term, he said those who are vaping will deal with the consequences of nicotine addiction. DeWine cited a Truth Initiative study in which he said 63% of 15-24-year-olds who use Juul didn't know the product always contains nicotine. He also said some pods have the equivalent of one to three packs of cigarettes' worth of nicotine. The governor said the e-cigarette industry is using the same playbook that tobacco companies used decades ago which is using flavors to attract young users. DeWine released the following numbers from 2018. 75.5 percent high schools students vaped fruit flavors 51.2 percent vaped menthol/mint 46.2 percent used candy flavored liquid The Mayo Clinic has found that nicotine can harm the developing brain, according to DeWine. It can affect attention, learning, mood or impulse control. He said it may increase the risk to addiction to other drugs. In addition to working on a ban of flavored liquids, DeWine also said he's sending letters to Ohio college and university presidents asking them to enhance smoke-free campus policies, including rules on vaping.