A new vaping restriction in East Baton Rouge Parish bans new shops selling tobacco, THC or nicotine products from being within 500 feet of schools, parks or other places that children are likely to be.
The ordinance, which took effect last month, also prevents new shops from opening up within 500 feet of another shop selling similar products. It also requires signage indicating that minors are not allowed in these shops. The goal, parish officials say, is to keep children away from vaping while still allowing adults to have the option to do so.
Metro Councilman Rowdy Gaudet crafted the legislation. The policy looks to reduce exposure without elbowing out the industry.
“What I am trying to do is prevent it from being so close to an area where young kids are enjoying library resources or church gatherings,” Gaudet said.
The ordinance only covers stores that are dedicated to selling products including nicotine, tobacco and THC — but not convenience stores. Stores that were already in operation that would be in violation of the ordinance were grandfathered in, so they’ll operate without issue.
Gaudet had the parish’s Geographic Information System team make a map displaying the areas where smoke shops can no longer open up and the areas zoned to allow for smoke shops. The map indicates there is plenty of space for new shops to come in. Data from the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control also show that the number of places that are likely not to be covered by the ordinance dwarfs those that are likely to be covered. It also shows that only a few places needed to be grandfathered.
Children and vaping
A survey of Louisiana high schoolers by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2021 found that more than half had smoked at least one puff of an e-cigarette within the last 30 days.
Nicotine can harm still-developing brains, according to the CDC, specifically the parts of the brain related to attention, mood and impulse control.
Murelle Harrison, who leads the Gardere Initiative, a non-profit focused on revitalizing the Gardere neighborhood just south of Baton Rouge, isn’t a fan of any shop that sells nicotine products — that includes a hookah lounge right across from the park and next to a school building. She wants to keep children in her neighborhood from using these products.
She’s the one who brought this up to Gaudet. The two have a close relationship and Harrison spoke in favor of the ordinance while it was in front of the council.
Eric Weinzettle, Louisiana Director of Advocacy for the American Lung Association, said children who start vaping young could become addicted more easily.
“ Whenever you are introducing nicotine into it, you are strengthening the addiction pathways within the brain and making it harder to quit,” Weinzettle said.
If a child gets addicted to nicotine, Weinzettle said that they might not stop at vapes. He also said that flavored vape products are more enticing to children.
Jim McCarthy, a spokesman for American Vapor Manufacturing, rejects the idea that vapes are marketed to children.
He takes issue with the rhetoric that flavored vapes only appeal to children, but agrees that regulating vapes as any other adult-only product is fine.
“We've long argued that vaping ought to be considered as an adult product for adults only,” he said.
His organization argues that vapes are an effective form of harm reduction compared to cigarette use and that nicotine vaping helps people quit cigarettes.
The idea is that through vaping, a person is exposed to fewer harmful chemicals than when smoking a cigarette. For someone who is not ready to quit smoking but wants to take steps toward being healthier, vaping could help.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found that there was not enough evidence to prove that the benefits of smoking vapes in place of cigarettes outweigh the harms.
Advocates for vaping as a means of reducing the harms from smoking point to the UK, where the National Health Service said it is a safer alternative to cigarettes. Despite this, no vape product is licensed for smoking cessation.
The FDA has licensed cessation products like nicotine pouches or gum, and there are a plethora of hotlines to call to help someone quit. Overall, the agency and the NHS both said it is best for one’s health not to smoke at all.
Another ordinance on the horizon
Gaudet’s anti-vaping campaign isn’t stopping at zoning. His next move is an ordinance targeting the advertising of tobacco products in the same areas.
“The intent behind the advertising distance regulations would be to reduce the exposure that young people are having to it,” Gaudet said, in hopes that it will make children less likely to start using them.
Gaudet said the ordinance is still in the drafting process, so it will need to be approved by the EBR Metro Council to have any effect.
Potential First Amendment issues with singling out a specific type of product might exist with Gaudet’s next ordinance, though, Mark Meaney, the director of Commercial Tobacco Control Programs at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Minnesota, said.
Meaney suggests that a more content-neutral law would address the issue. Gaudet said he is working with the parish attorney’s office to finalize the language so that it doesn’t violate the First Amendment.
He’s also working with the Louisiana Public Health Institute to help other cities keep smoking products away from children.
