Pubdate: Thu, 27 Nov 2014
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2014 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Author: Paul McLeod

KIDS USING E-CIGARETTES TO TOKE UP, TORY MP SAYS

OTTAWA - Teenagers are using electronic cigarettes to discreetly
inhale marijuana in front of teachers and parents, a Conservative MP
said Thursday.

The House of Commons health committee is studying e-cigarettes and how
they should be regulated.

As the committee met Thursday, James Lunney, Conservative MP for
Nanaimo-Alberni, warned that the devices used to inhale nicotine and
vapour, a practice commonly known as vaping, could be giving youths
cover to use drugs.

"Kids are smoking some of these e-cigarettes at home in front of their
parents and even in front of teachers because they're not regulated
and they're not cigarettes," he said.

Lunney pointed to videos on YouTube that show how to distil marijuana
with propylene glycol - a sweet liquid used in electronic cigarettes -
to create a liquid that gets you high but has little to no odour.

"We know young people have been known to experiment in their parents'
medication cupboards," Lunney said. "But all kinds of things can be
dissolved or put into a solution with propylene glycol and could be
vaped."

He told The Chronicle Herald later that his evidence of children being
allowed to use e-cigarettes at schools was anecdotal.

But he repeated his concerns that kids can take any number of drugs
from their parents' medicine cabinets and try to use them in
e-cigarettes. It's this type of homemade experimentation with drugs
that led to the spread of crystal meth, he said.

"I think 20 years from now, we'll be looking back and saying how did
we get into this mess with a whole range of things that nobody's
talking about today."

The e-cigarette industry group Electronic Cigarette Trade Association
of Canada, which was being questioned during the meeting, didn't have
the chance to respond directly to Lunney's comments. But board
chairman Daniel David said electronic cigarettes are not marketed to
children.

David said retailers strongly support a ban on selling vaping products
to minors.

The industry is fighting to have e-cigarettes regulated as a regular
consumer product, rather than akin to a tobacco product. They argue
the devices are a healthier alternative to cigarettes that have been
far more effective in smoking cessation than traditional methods like
the patch and nicotine gums.

"These do not re-normalize smoking. They are significantly different
than tobacco," David said.

"Electronic cigarettes have the plausible potential to completely
eradicate the use of cigarettes."

But the industry got a rough ride from all three parties in
committee.

New Democrat MP Libby Davies said the industry's arguments reminded
her of the natural medicine industry trying to be exempted from
regulations that apply to mainstream medicine.

Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan claimed children are increasingly
experimenting with e-cigarettes, and said there is not enough research
into the health effects of vaping.

Conservative MP Terence Young said he did see some value in the
devices helping people quit smoking. He said perhaps they should only
be available through a prescription.

"The problem with prescription regulation is it is prohibitive, it
makes the product less accessible," David said.

The committee will continue its study at future meetings.
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MAP posted-by: Matt