Ahead of Montana Legislature’s 2025 session, the Cascade County Substance Abuse Prevention Alliance is making the public aware of some trending bills regarding substance regulations.
The Substance Abuse Prevention Alliance sends out a monthly newsletter on what drug and alcohol trends are happening in Cascade County. Every two years, they also send out a special edition of what kind of bills are being introduced at the Montana legislature regarding substances like marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol.These newsletters are to make the public aware of these bills in the hopes they will contact their legislative leaders to have their voices heard on these issues.
Substance Abuse Specialist for Cascade County, Beth Price Morrison says, “ I firmly believe that the more citizens are involved in this process and the more their voices are heard down in Helena, the better outcomes we're going to have out of the legislative session.”
Their 2025 alert highlights two bills being introduced on opposite ends of a debate on whether e-cigarettes should be classified as tobacco products, as far as regulations and rules. One bill would separate tobacco from vapor and alternative nicotine products. Another bill, on the opposite side, would classify these products as tobacco, and they would be subject to the same licensing fees and regulations as regular tobacco. Morrison says, “Citizens can be aware of these two pieces of legislation and reach out to their representatives and let them know how they feel.”
Currently, tobacco products and vapor products are classified differently within the state. Vapor products do not have an additional state tax that tobacco products have, and it is up to local governments to set regulations, like prohibiting vaping where smoking tobacco is prohibited. For example, the counties that currently have ordinances that prohibit vaping in areas where smoking is not allowed are Bozeman/Gallatin County, Lewis and Clark County, Missoula County, and Yellowstone County.
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These bills introduced would either allow local governments to set stricter regulations than state law, or alternately, prohibit setting stricter regulations than state law.
Morrison says, “A citizen can call and say, I want this message to go to my representatives X, Y, and Z, and this is the bill I'm referring to, I'm either in favor or I have my concerns, or I'm I'm opposed to it, and here's why. And those messages are logged and then they are transferred to the individual representative.”
To receive these alerts from the Cascade County Substance Abuse Prevention Alliance, email cascadecountysapa@gmail.com.
You can contact your Great Falls & Cascade County legislators at (406) 444-4800.
