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Governor Charlie Baker declared a public health emergency against all vaping products on Sept. 24, 2019.
BY EMMA RUBIN ’20
Kim Hull started smoking cigarettes in high school, and it wasn’t until she switched to e-cigarettes that she was able to kick the habit. As the manager of Exscape Smoke Shop in Amherst, Massachusetts, she has seen countless customers with stories similar to hers: smokers trying to find a safer outlet to cope with their nicotine addiction. For many, vape pens were the perfect substitute.
Last month, Governor Charlie Baker banned the sales of all e-cigarette products in Massachusetts. To Hull, that doesn’t just mean losing 30 to 40 percent of Exscape’s sales, but also that some of the store’s regulars, her friends and even her own mother, are once again smoking cigarettes.
“Everyone I knew who was vaping ended up switching back to cigarettes,” she said.
On Sept. 24, Governor Baker declared a public health emergency and urged the state’s public health council to enact a four month ban on the sale of all vaping products, which it promptly did. Although other cities and states targeted flavored vape products in their bans, Massachusetts’ legislation is inclusive of all vaping products.
Three vaping stores sued the Baker administration over the ban, and on Oct. 21, Judge Douglas Wilkins of Suffolk Superior Court upheld the law, citing that a reversal “would contravene the public interest.”
Many businesses which sell vaping products were taken aback by how sudden the implementation of the ban was. Frank White from The Vault in Northampton, Massachusetts said that about 60 percent of the store’s sales come from vape products.
The Massachusetts ban, and prohibitions in five other states, were spurred by reports of a mysterious illness related to e-cigarette products.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been 1,479 lung injuries as of Oct. 15, including 33 deaths associated with vaping. The majority of vaping casualties have been linked to products containing THC which, nationally, tend to be obtained outside of official vendors. Since marijuana is legal in Massachusetts, THC vape products had been available in some state stores and dispensaries.
Assistant Professor of Psychology and Education Jared Schwartzer has been researching the effects of vaping on pregnant mice in his neuroscience lab, focused on brain development during pregnancy. While he cautioned against directly translating his findings from an animal to human model, he said that vaping is not harmless and it is inconclusive if it is a safer alternative than cigarettes while pregnant. He hopes that his research will encourage more scientists to look into this field, but studies on long-term effects of vaping are still limited.
Schwartzer also noted that, despite Baker’s hopes that a four month pause on sales could increase medical research, four months likely isn’t enough time for effective research developments.
Schwartzer thought the ban could lead to an increase in black market activity.
“Sale of THC vaping products in Massachusetts has been well regulated and the state has established some important quality control measures for cannabis products,” he said. “Those same assurances are not available in the black market.”
Hull also expressed concern that a ban could support an underground sales system, making the products even more accessible to minors. She wished that the ban had just been focused on the flavored products, because now consumers who used e-cigarettes as an alternative to traditional cigarettes, have just returned to their old vices.
“Personally, I don’t feel people should vape if it’s not for quitting,” she said.
“There are many elements and variables that might be contributing to the vaping illness, and good science requires that we carefully measure each component both separately and in combination.” Schwartzer said. “...The challenge is that the popularity in vaping has grown at a faster pace than science can keep up with.”