Day: It's Time To Impose Excise Tax On All E-Cigarettes

A release from the office of State Senator Michael Day:

E-cigarettes deliver addictive nicotine into the body through water vapor instead of smoke.
They are not healthy, but they are profitable and exceedingly popular. According to a study
funded by the Center for Disease Control, e-cigarette maker Juul Laboratories saw its device
sales increase from 2.2 million to more than 16.2 million in one year. Other studies estimate that
the e-cigarette sales exceed $1.5 billion annually and will soon overtake cigarette sales. “Big
Tobacco” companies, relentless in their drive for profits, have invested substantial funds into the
growth of e-cigarettes, with some even funding studies to show the “health advantages” of
vaping compared to traditional smoking.

With that industry driving sales, perhaps it should not come as a surprise that we have seen a
precipitous climb in e-cigarette usage among our children. Companies market and sell e-
cigarette products with flavors such as “Blue Razz Lemonade,” “Cream Cookie,” “Cotton
Candy” and “Grape Bubblegum,” to name only a few. Call me crazy, but I don’t think these
flavors are intended for older users.

If indeed marketed to our youth, these efforts are having the industry’s desired impact. The
number of American students who used a vaping device in 2018 was 1.5 million more than those
who used one in 2017. In Massachusetts, we have seen a 78 percent increase in e-cigarette use
among high school students, and a 48 percent increase among middle school students in the past
year. Put plainly, we are in the throes of a vaping epidemic in our teenage and pre-teen
population.

State and federal governments have been slow to address this health crisis, and the e-cigarette
industry has largely flourished as a result. However, we know how to attack this type of scourge
because we have done it before.

Traditional cigarette usage among teenagers is almost non-existent thanks in part to government
regulations and pricing, and in part to education initiatives. Using regulations on advertising and
products, government effectively shut down previous tobacco industry efforts to market to our
children. For example, in 1997, the Federal Trade Commission charged that R.J. Reynolds
directly marketed to children with its cartoon character, Joe Camel. The tobacco giant ceased
using the character in its advertising. Similarly, in 2009 the federal government prohibited
flavors other than menthol in cigarettes.

We also know that increased pricing on cigarettes works: every ten percent increase in cigarette
prices reduced youth smoking by about seven percent. Yet Massachusetts currently imposes no
excise tax at all on e-cigarettes and other vape products. This is inconsistent with the way we
treat cigarettes, cigars, and other traditional tobacco products. I am hopeful that we will remedy
this oversight soon and am confident that, if we do, the results will track the drops we have seen
in youth smoking.

I am happy that we in the Legislature are using what we know to be effective in moving forward
with other measures to curb teen vaping. Last July, Governor Baker signed into law a bill I
cosponsored that raised the age to purchase any tobacco product from 18 to 21. This year, I have
cosponsored legislation that would bring e-cigarettes in line with traditional cigarette products by
including a prohibition against flavored e-cigarettes.

I encourage you to speak with teenagers about the prevalence of e-cigarette usage in their ranks.
Once you do, I invite you to support the work done in this area by our local coalitions for safer
communities and to be vocal about changes in the law you want to see. We owe it to our
children to do better, and I am confident we will.