School division proposes e-cigarette ban

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/09/2014 (3492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province’s largest school division is getting ready to snuff out e-cigarettes, even though the federal government has no plans to regulate their use.

Anthony Ramos, a Winnipeg School Division trustee and former teacher, said his motion to ban electronic vaporizer devices — battery-operated devices that use liquid nicotine — from schools will be discussed and voted on during a school board meeting Monday.

“The intent is to be proactive and to stop any issue about it before it happens,” Ramos said Tuesday. “If the school board takes proactive action, it will be one less thing to worry about and it’s just one more distraction students won’t have.

“I’d be surprised if anybody would be opposed to this. We wouldn’t want it to get popular first and then look at addressing it when it is full-blown.”

As for any possible penalties or ramifications, Ramos said that will have to wait for a future school board meeting following elections later this month.

A day after Winnipeg school trustees examine the issue, Vancouver city councillors will look at bylaw amendments to ban selling e-cigarettes to minors and force users to follow the same rules as regular smokers. It could also see the word “vaporizing” added to the city’s no-smoking signs.

Several school boards in British Columbia have already banned e-cigarettes on school grounds, as have two in Alberta.

A spokeswoman for Healthy Living Minister Sharon Blady said the province continues to rely on the advice of Health Canada and medical experts. “We think the federal government has a role to play here as there is currently no clear policy regulating the use of e-cigarettes,” the spokeswoman said.

“The province is not currently looking at a ban, but business and other organizations are always welcome to create their own policies on current issues. We plan to work with other provinces to call for clear and consistent national regulation of these products.”

Scott Jocelyn, executive director of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said member restaurants report they are “erring on the side of caution” at this point.

“Most people are concerned about if they let somebody with an electronic cigarette smoke it creates difficulties between seeing if it is that or a regular cigarette,” Jocelyn said.

“We want to do what’s right.”

It’s easier to have people butt out regular cigarettes, Jocelyn said, because everyone knows smoking inside restaurants is illegal.

“We don’t want the health department to come in and say ‘Why are you letting someone smoke in here?’ ” he said. “As I said, it is better to err on the side of caution.”

Erin Crawford, a spokeswoman for the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, said the society welcomes the school division’s plan.

“That’s fantastic,” Crawford said.

“It’s so important because now it is highly unusual to see somebody with a cigarette indoors. We’d like to see a ban so we don’t go back in that direction.

“We don’t want to see cigarettes re-normalized.”

Crawford also doesn’t want children to start using e-cigarettes.

“We don’t want kids to start smoking in the first place because we know how hard it is to stop,” she said.

Jordan Vedoya, who opened his first Fat Panda e-cigarette shop last December and has just opened one in Brandon following others in Winnipeg and Selkirk, said it is their policy not to sell e-cigarettes to anyone under 18 years of age. But Vedoya said that doesn’t mean minors don’t use e-cigarettes.

“Historically, kids would get their hands on cigarettes — I was smoking before I was 18 and I had no problem getting cigarettes.”

Vedoya said he would welcome regulations that promote “respectability.”

“Obviously not every person is respectable towards other people’s rights… If a person uses it at a family restaurant, I’m not for that at all. They’ll be the ones to ruin it for us.”

 

— with files from Bruce Owen

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

What do you think of the school division’s move to ban e-cigarettes? Join the conversation in the comments below.