St. Paul MN: ECigs Excluded from Latest Ban

[jamie]

A new St. Paul ordinance banning "imitation tobacco products and novelty lighters" specifically mentions and excludes ecigs. I presume, but don't know, that this is because Ruyan America is headquartered in Minneapolis. Unfortunately that won't help folks who like beef jerky or convenient storage tins.

Section 295.02 of the Saint Paul Legislative code

Sec. 295.02. Definitions.

(1) "Imitation Tobacco Product" means either: any edible non-tobacco product designed to resemble a tobacco product; or any non-edible non-tobacco product designed to resemble a tobacco product that is intended to be used by children as a toy.
Examples of imitation tobacco products include, but are not limited to, candy or chocolate cigarettes, bubble gum cigars, shredded bubble gum resembling spit tobacco, and shredded beef jerky in containers resembling snuff tins. An electronic cigarette is not an imitation tobacco product.

[TropicalBob]

Amazing. Talk about influence! It has to be Ruyan's impact on those who wrote this law. A ban on bubble gum cigars but, hey, those 36mg vapor-puffing fake cigs with glowing tips are not an imitation of a tobacco product.

Excuse me. What are they then?

And some thought the FDA position whimsical ...

[Austintatious]

WOW did they really just ban a specific type of plastic container? WTF

[Austintatious]

Haha wow I wonder if Big League Chew will have to repackage their gun since it is the same as long leaf tobacco chew packaging...

This is what you get America... Turn to government for all your problems and reap what you sow.

[OutWest]

WOW did they really just ban a specific type of plastic container? WTF

from the sounds of it, pretty much, yeah. They could argue that squares of gum in a round container fall under the ban since the squares are similar in shape to square pouches of snuss and the round container similar to the tin it comes in. They could even argue that the round breathmints in the round container fall under the ban.

[Steampunk]

Soooooooo.....this is good news and bad news. Can I see the glass half full on this?

[Smo]

O_O

Seriously. This is out of control. I could never live in the Country of Freedom.

[OldBiker]

Smo, any of us that live in the US that: Ride Motorcycles, 4-wheelers, Jet Skis, or Hunt/Fish, and yes, smoke know this isn't really the country of freedom. There seems to be a group of people in this country whose goal is to find people enjoying themselves and make them stop. Even if they're not hurting anyone or anything else.

[LaceyUnderall]

Soooooooo.....this is good news and bad news. Can I see the glass half full on this?

It's both.

It's great for the ecig because it is being singled out in a written law in a positive way. This is really the first legislation that even mentions the electronic cigarette by name here in the states.

It's bad because it is just so ridiculous that the US is banning so many things! Sure, we don't want our kids to pick up smoking or chewing or drinking or cussing... but shouldn't we be able to teach our kids our own set of values and hope that they listen to us? If parents could teach their kids these things, then kids wouldn't buy these products and then the companies who manufacture and package their products to look like this stuff would have to adapt, instead of being forced. So sad.

[yvilla]

Excuse me. What are they then?

And some thought the FDA position whimsical ...

Sorry Bob, but I don't see it as whimsical at all.

If you look carefully at the ordinance's definition, they are prohibiting any non-tobacco product "designed to resemble a tobacco product that is intended to be used by children as a toy".

It's pretty clear to me that electronic cigarettes are not intended to be used as a toy, and I'm grateful some law-making body was intelligent enough to realize that!