Those who use electronic cigarettes will now need to vape outside and away from buildings beside traditional tobacco smokers.

The City Council approved an ordinance last Wednesday that will prohibit the devices from being used in restaurants, bars and other indoor public spaces under the Clean Indoor Air Ordinance. It will also require retailers to stock the products behind the counter to prevent underage use.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel first pushed for the ordinance last December. It failed to pass largely because it allowed for the use of non-nicotine vaping devices indoors and several aldermen argued that it would be impossible to tell the difference.

The movement comes after the City Council voted to increase the tax on tobacco cigarettes by 50 cents to $7.17 per pack late last year. The higher tax went into effect Jan. 10.

Electronic cigarette use has been prohibited in DePaul buildings and residence halls since the previous smoking policy was revised to include them in 2011. The university does not allow for the use of any device that “emits smoke, gas, vapor, steam or mist” indoors.

“It’s nonsensical and impractical,” Luke Halleran, a junior majoring in mathematics and economics, said of the ban. An e-cigarette user himself, he believes that the law will be difficult for business owners to enforce because users do not need to exhale small puffs.

The mayor and other advocates argue that it is a matter of public health. “I am thrilled that a product that essentially is a nicotine delivery system will be regulated in the same way other tobacco products are regulated,” said Dr. Karen Larimer,assistant professor at DePaul and Presidentelect of the Chicago American Heart Association, via email. Dr. Larimer testified in favor of the ban at the City Council hearing.

“At this point in time we simply do not know what the effect of the vapor is on the user or the person that comes into contact with the second-hand vapor,” she wrote. “The effect on DePaul students is potentially an added protection against the harmful chemicals and toxins that are associated with these products.”

The ordinance will also affect local small businesses that sell the products. Jared Yucht, owner of Smoque Vapor, is worried about subsequent regulations that could harm his small Lakeview and Loop storefronts.

“The problem is that they associate us with Big Tobacco,” he said. Lumping electronic cigarettes with their traditional counterparts, he said, is inaccurate.

Yucht says that his products have not been proven to be harmful and that those fighting for the ordinance were skewing study data in their favor. E-cigarettes, he said, are effective smoke cessation tools that are much safer than smoking tobacco and some studies have shown nicotine to be less harmful than caffeine.

“Are we doing harm reduction or prohibition? In the past I’ve probably gotten 1,000 people to stop smoking cigarettes,” he said.

“(The electronic cigarette) is much cheaper and I feel physically better than when I was smoking tobacco,” Halleran said. After making the switch, Halleran – who used to smoke a pack a day – quit traditional cigarettes. He agrees that the liquid mixture of propylene glycol and nicotine seems to be benign. Though starter kits retail for around $50, he said he has saved money in the long run because the products are reusable.

Dr. Larimer hopes that the ban will prevent nicotine consumption from becoming normal behavior. 

“Can you imagine someone ‘lighting up’ in a classroom?” she said. “We don’t want that to be okay for anyone. But the bottom line is we just don’t know how safe these products are and until we have more evidence they should be regulated.”