Northport republican assemblyman Keith Brown has just introduced legislation in the New York state assembly that seeks to further regulate vaping, smoking, and the use of cannabis and alcohol in the state. The legislation seeks to create an independent authority to oversee the supply of vapes, tobacco, cannabis, and alcohol in the state.
If passed Brown’s bill will see the creation of the Adult-Use Substances Authority. This authority will oversee the activities of the Tobacco, Nicotine, and Vaping authority, the Cannabis control authority, and the Liquor Authority. In addition, the bill seeks to create more laws and programs to govern the use of vaping products, tobacco, cannabis, and alcohol in the state.
For example, the bill seeks to establish the electronic cigarette and Vaping Prevention, Awareness, and Control Program. This program will be designed to educate the public and most importantly teenagers and young adults on the risks of vaping and using other products with nicotine. In addition, the bill will also see the establishment of the Tobacco and Vapor Product Use Prevention and Control Program Which will seek to further reduce the number of smokers in the state by applying a wide range of deterrent methods.
The authority created by this bill will be responsible for developing licensing and registration procedures for tobacco product manufacturers, retailers, and dealers. This will include stores that handle electronic cigarettes and vapers.
According to assemblyman Brown “The Tobacco, Nicotine and Vaping Authority will ensure the health and safety of the public and the use of proper ingredients and methods in the manufacture of all tobacco, nicotine and vaping products to be sold or consumed in the state”.
Brown says that his aim is to protect minors from false advertisements used by manufacturers of these products. He notes that most vaping products and even cannabis and tobacco products are packaged and marketed in ways to target minors. This leads to an increase in the use of these products.
The irony is that his bill comes at a time when New York’s state smoking rate among the youth has dropped to an all-time low of 3% in 2020 down from 27.1% twenty years ago. A survey conducted by the state’s health department found that tobacco smoking was down across all categories including e-cigarettes.
Perhaps the bill is based on the 2018 Food and Drug Administration report which showed that teenagers who used e-cigarettes were more likely to become smokers. Furthermore, studies showed that vaping among high school kids increased by 160% from 2014 to 2018. More studies show that the use of e-cigarettes is reduced for the first time. The use of vapes among high school students in the state dropped to 18%. This has been further aided by the 2019 legislation which increased the age for access and purchasing tobacco products to 21 years. This made purchasing vaping products very hard for teenagers.
Brown aims to make authority an important part of the substance use world by giving it powers to oversee every aspect of these harmful products. He says that “The creation of the Tobacco, Nicotine and Vaping Authority will provide the necessary oversight to all manufacturing, advertising, and distribution of tobacco, nicotine and vaping products as well as providing transparency and helping to curtail underage use of such products.”
