No e-cigarettes inside? Local mayor calls for change

CLARKSTON, Ga. — A Dekalb County city wants to ban e-cigarette smoking indoors.

The proposal calls for strengthening Clarkston's current tobacco ordinance.

The smoking ban would extend to all forms of smoking, including traditional cigarettes and hookahs.

"The No. 1 public health threat in America right now is related to tobacco," said Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry. "We feel like it is time to update it based on what is happening in the market place."

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Erica Byfield found some DeKalb County residents agree.

"They should get rid of it," said Aden Kebebe.

A man Byfield met outside of a hookah lounge disagrees with the proposal.

"I think it will be a bad idea because it would take away people's businesses," Mounir Botoreh said.

Terry pointed Byfield to a study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences about the chemicals in e-cigarettes to back up his belief.

Researchers found there are more than 7,000 e-cigarette flavors on the market and they can cause serve respiratory problems; including popcorn lung.

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"It creates, like, bubbles basically in your lungs, so it’s a horrible condition," the mayor said.

The study also says urgent action is needed to evaluate what is happening.

Byfield pored through data from the Centers for Disease Control that shows 12 percent of all adults in the U.S. have tried e-cigarettes and use is on the rise in high schools and middle schools.

If the city's tobacco ordinance is updated to include e-cigarettes, Clarkston would be the first city in Georgia to do so.

Earlier this month, Channel 2 Action News reported that Terry wants to decriminalize marijuana.

Terry said he wants to make sure it’s no longer a crime to have less than an ounce of marijuana. He says the war on drugs has been a failure and police resources are better used elsewhere.

Cox Media Group