New York"s First Illegal E-Cigarette

For all the talk from anti-tobacco zealots who’d like to crucify anyone who uses anything that looks, smells or reminds people of tobacco, you’d think sales of e-cigarettes to minors to be an actual problem.  It comes up all the time as one of their rallying cries, in various forms.  “Kids will get hooked on nicotine… it’s a gateway to cigarettes!”, or “they come in flavors to attract children!”  We all know the “for the children” spiel is political smoke and mirrors nearly every time it’s used, but it’s one of the very few arguments anti-vaping activists have.

Today we got an idea of just how prevalent the sales of e-cigarettes are to minors: Dutchess County, New York, set a milestone today by issuing the first documented violation of a New York law prohibiting e-cigarettes to minors.

This law has been on the books for nearly five months now, and this is the first violation.  There are 19.5 million people in New York state, and 24.7% of them, or about 6.5 million of those are under 18.  One of those 6.5 million was caught buying an e-cigarette in the state, making the odds of being caught buying an e-cigarette while underage about 6 times more likely than dying in a plane crash or being struck by lightning.

You’d think if e-cigarette sales to minors were a problem on anything like the scale the anti-tobacco zealots say it is, they’d have been able to find more than one by now.

Dutchess County reports first illegal e-cigarette sale to a minor

New York"s First Illegal E-Cigarette