Public hearing scheduled for June 20

By Liz Schevtchuk Armstrong

The Philipstown Town Board on June 7 called for a moratorium on shops that sell e-cigarettes and scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday.

The board proposed a six-month moratorium on applications for “vape” shops, which sell devices that allow a user to inhale vapor from liquids that contain nicotine and are sold in hundreds of flavors, including cotton candy, watermelon, blueberry, peanut butter and chocolate.

The public hearing will take place at 7 p.m. on June 20 at Town Hall, 238 Main St., in Cold Spring.

Vape shops are “something we really don’t want to see,” said Supervisor Richard Shea. “It is obviously being marketed to children. It’s just not acceptable. We’re not going to have that in Philipstown.”

Councilor Nancy Montgomery explained that a moratorium would provide time to prepare a permanent law. “We know it’s poisoning our kids,” she said, arguing that it’s “where they get their start” before smoking tobacco and abusing other drugs. “This is just one of the many things we can do to combat this [addiction] crisis.”

Councilor Mike Leonard said vaping liquids contain “a lot of harmful chemicals” that spread in the air and threaten others.

The draft moratorium cites the board’s legal and constitutional obligation “to protect and preserve the public health, welfare and safety of the citizens of the town as well as to protect the value, use and enjoyment of property.” It asserts that permitting vape shops “may have a permanent, significant and substantial impact on the nature and quality of life” of Philipstown.

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Armstrong was the founding news editor of The Current (then known as Philipstown.info) in 2010 and later a senior correspondent and contributing editor for the paper. She worked earlier in Washington as a White House correspondent and national affairs reporter and assistant news editor for daily international news services. Location: Cold Spring. Languages: English. Areas of expertise: Politics and government

One reply on “Philipstown Proposes Ban on Vape Shops”

  1. While well meaning (I think), your recent articles about vaping offer no facts about this issue while saying outright it’s harmful and quoting people who say it’s harmful. Facts supporting that claim do not exist because there are few credible studies on vaping. I suspect there will be in the future, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

    Many vape because it is much safer than smoking tobacco, which has been known to be a deadly habit for decades, backed by hard science. For that reason, many health professionals support vaping as an alternative for anyone, while con-ceding it needs more study.

    Your articles are borderline irresponsible without presenting at least another point of view, one that probably has a lot more merit.

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