“New York City police officials charged Shawn Thomas with violating the state’s public smoking ban when they spotted him vaping while waiting for a subway train. The city’s Smoke Free Air Act explicitly prohibits e-cig use anywhere smoking is banned; however, because the officers charged Thomas under state law, which doesn’t mention e-cigs, Thomas was able to successfully challenge his citation in court.
According to the presiding judge, New York law defines smoking as “the burning of a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe or any other matter or substance which contains tobacco.” Since e-cigs do not burn and are not tobacco products, the judge ruled that vaping “does not fit within the definition of ‘smoking’ under the law.”
The judge’s decision doesn’t prevent New York legislators from amending the current anti-smoking statute to cover vaping as well; indeed, they have already begun the process. New York City amended its law in 2013 to ban public vaping by just adding a few words. Nonetheless, the legal acknowledgement that vaping is distinct from smoking and should thus be treated differently under the law could have far-reaching consequences.
For now, e-cig users in New York can vape freely without fear of prosecution so long as they’re in a place that hasn’t specifically banned it. Other jurisdictions now have precedent to make separate rules for vaping. Of course, it could also encourage lawmakers to craft even more draconian legislation to ban public vaping.”
Author: Michael Murray
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