Sexsmith town council is looking into the idea of banning the sale of all vaping products in the town. At a council meeting earlier in the month, Councillor Bruce Black asked members to revisit the idea at a future council meeting.
Mayor Kate Potter said Black’s plan is to follow in the footsteps of some American cities that have already made similar changes.
“There are different places across North America that are considering or have already banned a lot of vaping products just because of their health concerns and there hasn’t been long term study done on them so he wondered if that’s something we should consider.”
Places like Michigan have banned flavoured vaping products and San Francisco has restricted or banned sales of e-cigarettes. Potter said the concerns really circle around teens who have taken up vaping.
“People under the age of 18 aren’t supposed to be smoking or vaping and yet vaping has become sort of the new thing to do.”
“Given some of the health concerns that have been arising, especially out of the states [Councillor Black] said, ‘Is there more that we should be doing to help protect our youth?’ she adds.
Potter says more research will need to be done as she’s not sure a ban like this is possible for a town in Alberta. The topic will return to a future council meeting for a full discussion.