COLUMBUS, Ind. – The Columbus City Council voted 7-0 to pass an amended smoking ordinance to include e-cigarettes Tuesday night.
Smoking e-cigarettes, or vaping, will now no longer be allowed any place where smoking tobacco isn’t allowed, including workplaces, bars, taverns and private clubs.
The council also voted 6-1 to provide for a 60 day implementation period, so the ban won’t take effect for about two months.
Columbus Regional Health spearheaded the effort to include e-cigarettes in the ordinance and brought the issue to the council initially. The request came after recent data showing a high number of young people using e-cigarettes, or vaping.
Kylee Jones, with Healthy Communities at Columbus Regional, says while tobacco smoking rates are down nationwide, e-cigarette use is skyrocketing. A recent poll showed 29-percent of high school seniors at Bartholomew County Schools reported using e-cigarettes.
While vaping is often marketed as a smoking cessation method, Jones says e-cigarettes still deliver addictive nicotine and other chemicals that can be harmful.
