In the US state of Hawaii, there is an ongoing debate on how handle smokeless cigarettes. Like many other states in the US, the proposed regulations involve banning sales to minors and applying the state tobacco tax. Also like these other states, e-cig supporters are arguing to keep the underage ban in place, but not applying the tobacco tax. It appears in Hawaii, the vaping community has a chance to make this a reality.

What Hawaii's Bill “As Is” Could Mean to E-Cigs

Few advocates for vaping will argue about the application of the underage ban. Two items are typically a matter of concern—applying tobacco taxes and banning vaping in public places. In Hawaii, applying the tobacco tax would increase the cost of vaping products by 70%. For local retailers, that could mean that people will buy their vaping products over the Internet, and both they and the state both could lose revenue from out of state spending. There is also a great concern that applying such a tax could discourage smokers from independently using e cigarettes as smoking cessation devices.

How Could E-Cigarettes Fall Under Tobacco Taxes?

In this debate and others, many officials' opinions are based on the FDA's stance. In the Hawaii debate, the Health Department Director Loretta Fuddy states, “We don’t feel that from a Department of Health perspective that the science is really in yet. This is a rather new product,” which is a large part of the official reason why the FDA has not approved it as a smoking cessation device.

All the same, that does not quite bridge the logical gap between electronic cigarettes and analog cigarettes. Back in 2008, the FDA tried to completely ban the importation of these products, as they were then viewed as unregulated medical devices. In somewhat of a Faustian deal, a Federal Judge overturned the FDA's attempted ban by decreeing that they should be regulated like tobacco products.

Following up on this decree, it is not a far stretch for government officials to go from regulating them as tobacco products to taxing them as tobacco products, especially since tobacco taxes are themselves a form of regulation.

The Health Department Director's Concession

As a point of concession, Director Fuddy said that if they were presented with evidence that smokeless cigarettes are safe and that they do help people quit smoking, they would be supportive of them. Among opposing state representatives, this is a rare concession, which invites the already compelling extant scientific and statistical evidence.