By Jonathan Tercasio
Maryland Professionals Convene at Stamp to Discuss Electronic Smoking Devices
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot met with professionals from various fields to hold the first ever e-facts Task Force meeting Dec. in the Colony Ballroom at Stamp, in which panelists discussed the health effects of Electronic Smoking Devices (ESD).
The goal of the Task Force, according to Franchot, is to establish the facts about vaping devices and their ingredients, so that regulators can properly protect the citizens of Maryland.
Attendees consisted of 35 locally elected officials, stakeholders from public health institutes, small business owners, educational experts, professors and students. They will be holding multiple meetings over the next couple of months “to make sure that [Electronic Smoking Devices] are conducted and sold and enjoyed by consumers in a responsible fashion,” said Justin Hayes, the Task Force staff director.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2290 lung injury cases and 47 deaths have been linked to vaping. Several states and cities, such as Michigan, Massachusetts and San Francisco, have enacted vaping bans–but besides for the recent law that raised the smoking age to 21, Maryland hasn’t passed any regulations.
A Vaping 101 Panel and a Stakeholder Panel were conducted throughout the meeting to provide attendees with a diverse arrangement of facts about Electronic Smoking Devices and their harmful effects, especially on the youth population.
University of Maryland Law Professor Kathleen Hoke, who spoke during one of the panels, cited the growing number of high school students that are using these vaping devices.
Almost 21 percent of high school students reported using ESD’s in 2018, up from 11.7% in 2017, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey Data.
“That is startling,” Hoke said. “What I envision… is to have those sales being very constrained to certain locations, highly regulated with respect to who can get in there, and limiting the availability of products.”
Panelist Jeffrey A. Kelly, director of the Field Enforcement Division for the Comptroller, ESD’s are not subject to the same health and safety testing as cigarettes and face none of the associated excise taxes.
“We have to redefine what we consider other tobacco products to be,” said Kelly. “Right now, this product escapes regulation because it escapes residing in the definition of other tobacco products.”
Panelist Matt Milby, vice president of the Maryland Vapor Alliance, said ESD’s should be reserved only for adult usage. He noted that, if an adult can find the right device, flavor and nicotine concentration, they can use ESD’s to stop smoking cigarettes.
“I was able to get off of cigarettes within a week… and I started smoking when I was seven years old,” said Milby. “I’m 40 now, and I started vaping six years ago. That’s how long I smoked.”
But while the panelists agreed that ESD’s can be used as an exit ramp for cigarettes, they acknowledged the fact that these devices are becoming an on-ramp for the youth.
Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University who runs a tobacco treatment clinic in Baltimore City, highlighted the number of young patients he has seen affected by ESD’s.
He stated that since August 2019, he’s had 30 youths come to his clinic to try to quit electronic cigarettes. According to Galiatsatos, every one of these patients was reported to have lung injuries that weren’t present before vaping.
“They kept emphasizing the safety of the vapes, and my heart sank,” Galiatsatos said. “If we do not act now, we will fail an entire generation of youth patients.”