Bill targets teen ‘vaping’ as feds sound alarm

Posted at 5:35 p.m. on February 13, 2019

The Brillion News

MADISON – State Senator Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, and two GOP state representatives from the metro Milwaukee area, are co-sponsoring two bills that would, if enacted into law, prohibit the sale of vapor products and supplies to anyone under 18 years of age in Wisconsin.

The announcement came as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a press release, saying that teen smoking rates – in decline for many years – rose again and likely because of the use of addictive nicotine in electronic vapor delivery systems.

The bill authored by Jacque and State Reps. Janel Brandtjen and Barbara Dittrich prohibits the sale of any vaping products to minors, and is endorsed by the Wisconsin Police Chiefs’ Association.

“There is no doubt that these products will lead to the use of tobacco,” Jacque said. “Children are being conditioned by these products at an early age.”

The non-profit Center on Addiction also warned, last fall, that vaping devices are also being used as a means of delivering other drugs.

Jacque’s bill bans the sale or gifting of vaping products to minors, and bans minors from purchasing them.

A complete report will appear in the February 21 print edition of The Brillion News