E-cigarettes: It's like the Wild West

With few boundaries from the FDA or Oregon, inhaling vaporized nicotine-laced liquids is gaining popularity and increased visibility

Nate Little, 30, has been smoking since he was 17 and has tried many times to quit. Nothing worked, he says.

He was smoking two packs a day. That’s a costly habit — both in terms of finances and his health.

Six months ago, the Keizer resident landed on a compromise: electronic cigarettes. Now, he would never go back to tobacco cigarettes, he says.

He spends $20 on a bottle of liquid nicotine-flavor mix, instead of $140 on cigarette packs, every two weeks. He smells better and breathes better, Little said.

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that allow users to inhale vaporized nicotine, flavors and other chemicals. The flavors range from tobacco to piña colada. They’re different from traditional cigarettes because they don’t contain tobacco and tar, and there is no burning involved. The device heats up the liquid nicotine mixture, or e-juice, converting it into vapor.

Another major difference is that e-cigarettes are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the laws in place regulating tobacco do not apply to e-cigarettes. This includes TV advertising restrictions, sales restrictions to minors and use restrictions in public places. The FDA in fall of 2013 proposed a rule that would expand its oversight on tobacco products to include e-cigarettes.

Some states and municipalities have begun regulating e-cigarettes, and Oregon may soon join the ranks.

Rep. Andy Olson, R-Albany, has a draft bill in hand that he’s planning to introduce in the February legislative session. It would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors — a boundary on which industry leaders, users and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should be able to easily agree.

“This is a common-sense bill,” Olson said in an interview, noting that e-cigarette retailers already have been practicing the no-minors policy. “It’s not going to be a battle out there.”

So far, at least 27 states have banned the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

‘The Wild West’

A barrier to policy making on e-cigarettes is the lack of scientific knowledge on the products. Long-term health effects of the products both to the users and others in the environment are not yet known.

E-cigarettes: It's like the Wild West