By Journalist Sydney White (SE)
Representative Gilmore brings an introductory bill creating a possibility to deter kids from vaping through banning flavored vapes, as he believed they would attract children more so to them.
Opponency:
Getting a chance to speak with Senator Hayes in opposition was an enlightening view! He was one of the many senators making his way around to get the consensus of what our body was debating. Why did he vote no?
“I don’t see the bill as very relevant; it is outlawing something that is not necessarily violent,” he speaks. He highlights that perhaps vapes being available to kids is more of a parenting problem rather than one dealt by the government. He also brings up how they will cross state lines for it and would instead benefit other states.
Will flavored vapes discourage the youth from vaping more?
Hayes says, “It may slightly deter the views, but I think they will find other ways such as buying out of state or buying from people who buy out of state.”
The concern Hayes speaks of is a common argument among the senate that dealt with how kids will find a way to obtain vapes legally or by any means possible.
Do you believe businesses who are advertising flavored vapes are primarily responsible for the youth vaping as much as they do? Hayes believes that businesses play a role in the issue.
“I also think it’s a lack of parental oversight as well as poverty,” he states. Hayes calls out the trend of more low-income children often do vape more and that perhaps it plays more of a hand in the vaping problem connecting with a lack of parental oversight more than legal issues.
Proponent:
Though failing by a large margin, there was still debate sparked and many abstentions placing doubt on the bill’s effectiveness. Senator Gooden provides excellent insight into why we may take this bill more seriously than the concerned lets on.
Why did you vote yes? She gets a chance to speak with the author himself.
“The author was a person who used vapes and he made this bill because he thought he could disqualify vapes from being used and protect our society.”
Do you believe banning flavored vapes would effectively deter the youth? If so, why?
“It is a big problem in high school,” Gooden says. She believed that a piece of legislation would have cleared the urge to vape out of the schools.
Do you believe businesses are primarily responsible for these kids vaping as much as they do?
“Absolutely, I do,” Gooden confirms. Many businesses will rather go around the law or attempt to attract kids for money. Gooden emphasizes the current problems that businesses and minors have regarding vaping, and she believed that if this bill passed, it would create a much smaller hole to attempt to jump through, lowering these numbers of minor vapers. Many other senators who voted yes seemed to agree.