In the last legislative session, the Oklahoma Legislature introduced several pieces of legislation dealing with e-cigarettes and the vaping industry. Those bills were defeated.

House Bill 2097 would have addressed taxation issues for nicotine delivery products like electronic cigarettes.

Other legislation dealt with selling age restriction on these products, like SB 802, which would set the limit at age 18 and over. The bill would also set a five-cent tax on the products.

Another bill would have defined vapor products as “tobacco products” under state law. Defining e-cigarettes as tobacco products would have shifted how they are taxed- from a sales tax to an excise tax.

The e-cigarette industry is expected to reach $1 billion within the next few years, far surpassing its current estimated $300 million in retail revenue, according to Wells Fargo’s Tobacco Talk website.

Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, is an emergency room physician. He said he is not against e-cigarettes or the vaping industry and voted against the bills.

“I support e-cigarettes as a way to help people quit smoking,” Cox said. “E-cigarettes can have a role in tobacco cessation. The real purpose of the e-cigarette bill was an attempt to get a favorable tax environment for the hazardous (cancer-causing) product Snus which has carcinogens in it. Snus is a moist powdered tobacco product originating in Sweden (now in U.S. markets). I voted against the e-cigarette bill because additional language in the bill set up a favorable tax environment for Snus. The tobacco industry was hiding behind the smoke screen of e-cigarettes, and youth access to e-cigs, to accomplish their true purpose.”

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website electronic cigarettes are products designed to deliver nicotine or other substances to a user in the form of a vapor. 

Typically, they are composed of a rechargeable, battery-operated heating element, a replaceable cartridge that may contain nicotine or other chemicals, and an atomizer that, when heated, converts the contents of the cartridge into a vapor.

This vapor can then be inhaled by the user. These products are often made to look like such products as cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. They are also sometimes made to look like everyday items such as pens and USB memory sticks, for people who wish to use the product without others noticing.

Lepard said courts have already held that e-cigarettes can be regulated as tobacco products and the U.S, Food and Drug Administration in October will publish a proposed rule that could bring other types of tobacco products under its regulatory authority.

FDA officials have stated in previously published reports that the agency intends to propose a regulation that would extend the agency’s “tobacco product” authorities which currently only applies to cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco to other categories of tobacco products that meet the statutory definition of a “tobacco product.”

The FDA has stated that further research is needed to assess the potential public health benefits and risks of electronic cigarettes and other novel tobacco products.

Lepard said the Oklahoma State Health Department doesn’t know how many Oklahomans currently vape but will have a better outline in 2014 once the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey conducted through the Centers for Disease Control is completed.

“This year is the first time they started asking people in the survey whether they vape,” Lepard said. “We won’t get that data until the end of the year. Next year we will be able to tell you.”

Lepard said Oklahoma’s adult smoking rate has been declining for the last 10 years.

“Our smoking rate has been declining pretty much for the last 10 years at a good pace,” she said. “This last year we had the largest decline we have seen in our history. We went from a smoking rate of 26.1 percent rate of adults. We were ranked 47th in the country and now we are ranked 39th in the country with a smoking rate of 23.3 percent.”

Lepard said there is still much unknown about the safety and effectiveness of e-cigarettes.

“It is hard for us to go out and educate the public when the answer is we don’t know,” Lepard said. “What we know about traditional products took us decades to get there. Without knowing much about it we are concerned about saying they are safe.

"You are still inhaling nicotine at some level. Nicotine is toxic. It is still a dangerous substance. At a minimum we know they are not regulated.”

GiGi Miskovsky is owner/operator of Vaporium located at 1927 S. Air Depot in Midwest City.

She said she favors regulations on making vaping products available only to those 18 and older.

“I don’t mind regulation especially if they are making sure that they are 18 and older to come in and purchase these products,” she said. “As far as taxation I don’t agree with that because I don’t want them to regulate it to where it is not as accessible to the public.”

Brad Bennett, owner of Just Vapez, located at 4629 SE 29th Street in Del City said most of the vaping industry is self-regulated. He favors limited government regulation.

“I believe there should be some sort of regulation,” Bennett said. Should it be the government that puts in all these crazy regulations that nobody but big tobacco can meet I would say no. We all want restrictions on minors. We check IDs. We don’t sell to minors. That is off limits.”

Matt Barrett, manager of Vapor World located at 8911 SE 29th Street in Midwest City said there should be some regulations on vaping stores who make their own flavored juices.

He said Vapor World has its own separate laboratory to make sure its juices are safe to use in vaping products.

“I think there should be some regulations on stores like us that make our own juices to make sure it is a clean environment,” he said.

During the last legislative session the Oklahoma Vapors Advocacy League or OVAL retained a lobbyist to fight the e-cigarette legislation.

Bennett said the organization is planning to meet in October to discuss any potential legislation that could harm their industry.

While regulation at the state level is still lacking, regulation of vapor products has taken hold at the local level with a number of area school districts.

According to a previously published report Norman Public Schools passed a policy banning e-cigarettes from its campuses. Its policy specifically mentions e-cigarettes and vapor products.

The Mid-Del, Moore, Oklahoma City, Deer Creek, Kingfisher, and Edmond school districts all have similar policies banning the products not only on their campuses, but at athletic events.

“These products do have an appeal to kids,” Lepard said.

Lepard said quitting smoking can be difficult for many people and a recent study says that using electronic cigarettes may not be the best option.

She said the study stated that an e-cigarette is only seven percent effective helping someone quit smoking while quitting cold turkey is at three percent.

“We applaud anyone who chooses to quit but we believe there are better ways,” Lepard said. “If you call the helpline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW you get access to a free quit coach, free gum, patches and lozenges and your quit rate is about 36 percent. We can get a product that is proven to be effective than using one of these (other) products.”

Cox said e-cigarettes have a place in helping people quit smoking.

“Cigarette smoking involves two things and that is the physical addiction to nicotine and the habit of smoking,” Cox said. “E-cigarettes can help with the nicotine addiction by gradually decreasing the amount of nicotine.  They allow you to completely eliminate the nicotine addiction while continuing the “hand to mouth” habit.

"It is easier, with a higher success rate, to eliminate one thing at a time for most people. First eliminate the addiction, and then eliminate the habit. It remains to be seen if someone who does not smoke starts using e-cigs if they are more likely to then start smoking.”

Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs said he believes there will be a renewed push to get some regulation of the e-cigarette/vaping industry in the next legislative session.

“There is absolutely no regulation on there as far as the liquids used in those vapor products on how much tobacco and nicotine is involved in that,” Dorman said. “I think there needs to be some common sense regulations put into that.

"I fully suspect we will see something go through the Legislature this next year dealing with standards that need to be in place for e-cigarettes. We need to prevent kids from using these things just because they might look cool.”