Smoke ban: Vaping, e-cigarettes now have same restrictions as real cigarettes in Goshen
GOSHEN — Using an electronic cigarette or vaping is now banned by Goshen City Council.
A new ordinance put the same restrictions on those as cigarettes.
Tuesday night’s action comes after the council made bars, vape shops and fraternal clubs exempt.
The council clarified those changes.
By a vote of 4-3 the current smoking bars will be grandfathered out of the restrictions – but no future bars can allow smoking.
And they say benches outside of businesses will not count in the outdoor 8-foot smoke-free barrier.
Parks, businesses and restaurants in Goshen won’t see vaping any longer.
The original ordinance would have made smoking illegal anywhere. For Cravin Vapes, that meant customers couldn’t try before they buy.
“All of our customers are so used to coming in here to test what they want,” said Kayley Patton, GM of Cravin Vapes. “They test the e-liquids. They wouldn’t have that anymore. So that would have kind of been a big hit for us.”
But changes Tuesday night will let them continue to run business as usual.
“We feel good,” said Patton. “We’re happy they were able to have that because they didn’t have to do that. They could have just thrown it at us and ‘Well, here you go. Good luck.’”
Adrienne Thomas of Breathe Easy Goshen says she’s disappointed with the council’s decision.
“With all the amendments, it pretty much watered down the ordinance to where it is not as effective as it could be, and it does not protect workers here from the dangers,” she said.
She said the ordinance needs to take vaping as serious as cigarettes.
“That was not as prevalent when our state law was passed, but now we know there are dangers and we definitely want the vaping to be included.”
With the goal of a 100 percent smoke-free city, Thomas says they have more work to do.
“We would take the time to re-educate, continue to educate the community and our council on the importance of a stronger smoke law.”
Council members also shot down an idea for a 15-foot smoke free barrier surrounding transportation stops.
The police chief says this ordinance will be tougher to enforce with the new changes – and the number of businesses that may be exempt.
Photo courtesy: http://vaping360.com/
