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U.S. NEWS Friday 18 OctOber 2019
Northeast officials

team up to push pot,

vaping regulations

NEW YORK (AP) — The gov- he said.
ernors from several North- Earlier this month, a state
eastern states said Thursday appeals court temporarily
they want to work together blocked New York from en-
to regulate marijuana and forcing Gov. Andrew Cuo-
vaping, including possible mo's 90-day emergency
regional restrictions on fla- ban on such products after
vored vaping products. the vaping industry sued
Democratic governors to block the regulations.
from New York, Connecti- In Massachusetts, Repub-
cut, New Jersey and Penn- lican Gov. Charlie Baker
sylvania met in New York last month announced a
City with health and legis- statewide ban on the sale
lative officials. Representa- of vaping products, a mea- Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, second from left, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, center, Connecti-
cut Gov. Ned Lamont, second from right, and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, far right, co-host a
tives from Massachusetts sure that has been chal- regional summit on public health issues around cannabis and vaping, Thursday Oct. 17, 2019, in
and Colorado were also on lenged in court. New York.
hand for the meeting. Meanwhile, a new law just Associated Press
"What we want to do is co- took effect in Connecticut
ordinate this on a regional that increased the age Cuomo said a lack of fed- it's up to states to act. He should also consider that
basis," said Connecticut to 21 for someone to pur- eral action on pot and noted that marijuana is when considering marijua-
Gov. Ned Lamont, noting chase vaping products. vaping regulations means often vaped and states na legalization.q
how the "patchwork quilt
of marijuana regulations
makes no sense at all." He
said the group came up
with "very preliminary" prin-
ciples concerning how to
regulate legalized, recre-
ational marijuana, such as
agreeing to have similar
policies for THC content,
edibles, advertising and
taxation in order to dis-
suade people from turning
to the illicit market.
Lamont said "different
states are going to have
different timeframes" to
pass marijuana legislation
and he didn't foresee ev-
eryone enacting the exact
same law at the same time.
He said more work needs
to be done and staff from
the participating states will
continue working together
on the issue. Several of the
governors unsuccessfully
pushed for their states to al-
low recreational pot sales
in the last year.
"We just want to make
sure we go in with our eyes
open and we're consis-
tent," Lamont said.
On vaping, Lamont said
there appeared to be "the
most unity" among the offi-
cials on possibly outlawing
flavored e-cigarettes next
year, given their appeal
to young people and the
growing number of vaping-
related lung illnesses and
deaths across the country.
"I think you'll see some una-
nimity on that at the start,"