E-cigarette Ban Protest Held At Capitol

Barbara Hoberock
Tulsa World

Gov. Mary Fallin’s recent ban on the use of electronic cigarettes on state property drew about 30 protestors to the Capitol on New Year’s Day. 

Late last month Fallin issued the executive order banning electronic cigarettes, including vaporizers, on state property effective Wednesday.

Critics say she has overstepped her bounds by using an executive order to create law. They also say she is infringing on people’s civil liberties.

“You have to have a line in the sand somewhere,” said Howard Houchen of Hugo.

He said residents vote for lawmakers to represent them but that Fallin is bypassing legislators’ authority by issuing executive orders.

Sherri Stone of Claremore tried several products to quit smoking before reducing her smoking by using a vaporizer, she said.

“This works,” she said.

She said the vapor from the product is less harmful than hair spray or air freshener.

T.C. Ryan of Tulsa said the executive order is “over reaching” and “crazy.”

Ted King of Claremore wrote a self-published book about what he calls the “war on smokers” and the “nanny state.”

He said residents are slowly losing their freedoms.

A few years ago, people would have thought a law barring a person from smoking a pipe on state property was absurd, King said.

Fallin issued an executive order that went into effect in August 2012 that banned the use of tobacco on state property. That executive order followed by a legislative bill that she signed into law last April.

“She is not my parent,” King said. “She is just the governor.”

If technology has been developed to assist people in smoking less, it should be embraced, he said.

Political activist Kaye Beach of Norman said using a vaporizer has reduced her smoking, adding that “this little issue has gotten me really outraged.”

Technology is saving lives and liberating people from smoking, Beach said.

Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, said the state has more important issues, such as fixing the crumbling state Capitol.

King predicted that the executive order is not the end of infringements on people’s rights, adding that eventually all-you-can-eat buffets will be banned because they contribute to obesity.

“Choices are being taken away from us every day,” said Houchen.

Fallin spokesman Michael McNutt said the issue is not about civil liberties.

He said Fallin was within her power to issue the executive order, adding that lawmakers can take action if they see fit.

He said the concern is that employees and visitors to state buildings might be subjected to breathing vapors that might be unhealthy.

When Fallin signed the executive order last month, she noted that e-cigarettes and vaporizing devices are unregulated products and that their long-term health effects are unknown.