Boston is ‘least-friendly’ city for vaping

Even as Massachusetts has relaxed laws related to marijuana, a recent study shows the commonwealth has the strictest laws in the nation when it comes to e-cigarettes, studies show.

To uncover the most and least friendly e-cigarette locales in the U.S., Halo, an e-cigarette company, looked at the top 300 largest cities and created a list of all the vape shops listed on Yelp. Then, it examined the existing laws that restrict e-cigarette usage.

Massachusetts has thehighest number of vaping restrictions — 116 to be exact. Bostonhas 1.52 vape shops per 100,000residents, earning it a spot in thetop 10 for cities with the fewest vape shops.

Many laws were enacted to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of teens, citing their health hazards.

In 2014, there was significant growth in the use of e-cigarettes in high school students. There was almost a 200-percentincreasein the number of high school students using e-cigarettes from 2013 to 2014.

With such a significant increase, authorities took notice and cracked down on the sale and distribution of the e-cigarettes.

There are, however,several states whose laws are not as restrictive. Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Tennessee are the most welcoming to vapers.