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In the 2019 legislative session, Attorney General Jim Hood will propose that a user fee be imposed on electronic cigarettes or vaping devices similar to those applied to cigarettes.
The proposed tax will be part of a set of laws aimed at strengthening state regulation on the booming sector of the vape.
Hood is part of a coalition, including the state health department, the Mississippi Healthy Partnership, the state youth court and others, working to warn people ( especially parents) the dangers of electronic cigarettes.
Electronic cigarettes are electronic devices or batteries that can be an alternative to cigarettes. Different types of juice, often with a fruity flavor and containing nicotine, can be smoked or vaporized in electronic cigarettes. Some people think that for adults, e-cigarettes can be used to try to reduce or stop smoking – although this has not been proven yet. But for teens, electronic cigarettes, along with addictive nicotine, can lead to a dangerous habit, argue Hood and others
"These products are just a means of delivering nicotine – a highly addictive substance, as anyone who has tried to quit smoking knows," said state health official Mary Currier. "Electronic nicotine delivery systems are not included in the Mississippi Tobacco laws, but make our children addicts and attract them with fruit and other child-friendly flavors. These devices are actually hidden from view of parents and teachers need to be particularly vigilant. "
Mr. Hood stated that the only regulation in effect on electronic cigarettes is that they are not meant to be sold to anyone under the age of 18. He would like the legal age to be 21 years old by the legislature. He also stated that he would like to require that the products used in electronic cigarettes be prepackaged or at least subject to restrictions on the amount of nicotine placed in the product. In some cases, he said, the vaping shops mix their own preparations.
Hood argues that the tax on e-cigarettes should be equivalent to 68 cents per pack on regular cigarettes. The only current tax on electronic cigarettes is the 7% sales tax.
According to Mississippi Tobacco Data, a division of the Social Science Research Center of Mississippi State University, there are now more teens who vapot than smoking conventional cigarettes. According to information compiled by the state of Mississippi, teen smoking is at a low 7.2% compared with 11.5% for e-cigarettes.
Hood attributed the efforts of the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi to reduce teen smoking. His office works with the Partnership on brochures, videos and other efforts to warn of the dangers of vaping.
"I want parents to know what their kids are doing because it's incredibly easy to hide these devices, and many teens do not even know how dangerous it is for their health," Hood said.
John Dowdy, director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, said that electronic cigarettes are being modified to allow the use of illegal drugs through products.
The US Center for Disease Prevention and Control has described the use of e-cigarettes as an epidemic among adolescents.
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