East Peoria to consider ordinance to ban e-cigarettes in city facilities - Peoria Journal Star

EAST PEORIA — There will be no vaping inside City Hall. Or the police station. Or in a police car, for that matter. In fact, no vaping, period, if the City Council approves an ordinance prohibiting the use of electronic cigarettes and other electronic smoking devices in any city facilities.


The prohibition would not extend to public areas such as stores, bars, restaurants and work places as allowed by the Smoke Free Illinois Act enacted in 2008 that ended smoking in public places. The council passed the ordinance on first reading Tuesday night.


“This ordinance is really just a toe in the water, to see how it goes,” said City Attorney Scott Brunton, who drafted the ordinance. “State law doesn’t give municipalities the authority to enact ordinances that are more restrictive, but it does give municipalities the authority to enact ordinances that are less restrictive. That’s what the city has done.”


Defined by the U.S. FDA, electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, “are battery-operated products designed to deliver nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. They turn chemicals, including highly addictive nicotine, into an aerosol that is inhaled by the user.”


The practice has come to be known as “vaping,” a derivative of the word “vapor.” The FDA does not regulate electronic cigarettes.


“E-cigarettes have not been fully studied, so consumers currently don’t know the potential risks of e-cigarettes when used as intended, how much nicotine or other potentially harmful chemicals are being inhaled during use, or whether there are any benefits associated with using these products,” according to information on the FDA website.


Mayor Dave Mingus said the ordinance was driven by complaints.


“It came up at a staff meeting with department managers that people had complained about electronic cigarettes in city facilities,” Mingus said Wednesday. “It’s really about improving the welfare of the community.”


It’s not entirely clear whether e-cigarettes even fit the definition of “smoking,” as laid out in the Smoke Free Illinois Act.


Smoke or smoking “means the carrying, smoking, burning, inhaling, or exhaling of any kind of lighted pipe, cigar, cigarette, hookah, weed, herbs, or any other lighted smoking equipment.”


The cities of Chicago and Evanston have banned e-cigarettes everywhere that tobacco cigarettes are banned. Other smaller communities in the state are looking at enacting similar ordinances.


Kyle Adcock works part-time at Breathe Vapor, an electronic cigarette store in Fondulac Plaza.


“If someone doesn’t want their employees vaping inside, that’s fine, but it doesn’t harm anything,” Adcock said Wednesday inside the misty, aromatic store. “I don’t understand the big deal between doing it here (in a vape shop) or doing it in city hall. I don’t understand the point of it. It doesn’t make any sense.”


Page 2 of 2 - He went on to espouse the benefits of the habit.


“It’s the healthier alternative to smoking; it’s a way to get off smoking,” he said. “I smoked for almost 10 years and I’ve been on this (e-cigarette device) for two years. I quit (tobacco cigarettes) the day I picked one up.”


The ordinance will receive a second reading at the March 1 meeting of the City Council. If passed, it would become effective 10 days later.


Scott Hilyard can be reached at 686-3244 and [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @scotthilyard.
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