Evanston’s opportunistic nanny state e-cigarette restrictions treat adults like children

E-cigarettes have become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly among smokers of traditional cigarettes looking to kick the habit by moving to a less harmful alternative. So why are Illinois governments wasting taxpayer dollars and time trying to make them harder to buy? The Evanston City Council recently jumped to regulate e-cigarettes under the same...

E-cigarettes have become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly among smokers of traditional cigarettes looking to kick the habit by moving to a less harmful alternative. So why are Illinois governments wasting taxpayer dollars and time trying to make them harder to buy?

The Evanston City Council recently jumped to regulate e-cigarettes under the same rules applied to traditional cigarettes. The village’s new ordinance prohibits smoking e-cigarettes in all “smoke free” areas, which include restaurants, bars and spaces within 25 feet of any building entrance.

But cigarettes and e-cigarettes are very different products. E-cigarettes allow users to inhale vapors from a liquid solution that may or may not contain nicotine (the containers are customizable). Unlike tobacco cigarettes, they don’t produce any smoke, so secondhand smoke isn’t a concern.

Not only do Evanston’s new laws violate business owners’ right to decide what behaviors to permit or ban on private property, but they also impose a regulatory cost to complying with the law. The Evanston ordinance sets up a licensing requirement with a $500 annual licensing fee for anyone who wants to sell a “liquid nicotine” product. The ordinance also forbids the sale of any e-cigarettes within 150 feet of any school, so any businesses that happened to have already been established within that range are now out of luck. And for no good reason – schoolchildren can’t buy e-cigarettes in any event because the Illinois General Assembly has banned their sale to minors.

Busybody local governments should have higher priorities than hassling e-cigarette users and harming businesses for no discernible public health or safety reason. Imposing petty regulations on a controversial new product may be an easy way for politicians to get their names in the paper and create the appearance of “doing something,” but if they’re actually interested in serving their constituents, they should do the more difficult work of addressing the genuine fiscal and economic problems the state and local communities face.