Tax vapes and e-cigs just like other tobacco products

This Tuesday’s borough meeting will be interesting. One of the issues to be debated is the recent veto of a tax towards e-cigs or vapes (as the slang goes) and their supporting products by Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss. While I disagreed with the veto initially, this second look into the issue of “vaping” is welcome in my opinion. But in the end I do hope that vapes and their by-products are treated exactly like tobacco. They are after all both delivery systems for nicotine. That in itself is good reason for this treatment. It comes from the old saying; “What is good for the goose is good for the gander”.

This is a personal issue for me. I am a former smoker of some 31 years. A habit of a pack and half a day. That is until one year ago when I suffered a major heart attack that landed me in the hospital for nearly a month. My heart took a major beating, it took a quintuple bypass to repair the damage done to it. I have been smoke-free ever since Aug. 5, 2014. That was, to say the least, a major life changer – one for the better that has given someone like myself a whole new lease on life itself.

Since then I have developed a dislike for smoking and its new step-brother, e-cigarettes or vaping. I supported the recent smoking bans in the valley. I strongly believe they should include this new vaping habit along with their products in the bans. I do hear that some businesses are doing just that on their private properties. I applaud those who are taking this issue on in such ways.

In my opinion vaping is nothing more than smoking just without burning tobacco. It still delivers nicotine to the body in a new vapor form. The damage is still done just without a few the other chemicals that are listed in burning of tobacco to get the same effect. It is the nicotine that is the heart of the issue. Both deliver this deadly addictive drug to the human body. Both need to be treated the same way. Ban it from public spaces and tax both tobacco and e-cigarettes equally.

It is my hope that after the meeting of the borough that the Mayor’s veto is overturned and the tax on vaping and their by-products (vaporizers and flavor packs etc.) be instituted. Use those taxes raised to go to programs to help people quit the habit and to educate to prevent more from taking up either. By making the price to obtain this stuff high, it could prove to be an incentive to refrain from and quit tobacco or vapes altogether. Use these measures to help those to quit the before it tries to kill them as it nearly killed me.

Daniel D. Grota is a retired U.S. Army veteran with over 21 years in service. He is also a Tuesday morning co-host on KVRF 89.5 FM, Radio Free Palmer. Write to him at news@frontiersman.com.