Liberal Massachusetts lawmakers want to seize your car if you vape illegally

As reported by Reason’s Jacob Sullum, the Massachusetts House just passed a law which would “ban flavored e-cigarettes, impose a 75% excise tax on ‘electronic nicotine delivery systems’ (including e-1liquids as well as devices), and authorize forfeiture of cars driven by vapers caught with ‘untaxed’ products.” The measure is now set for consideration by the state Senate.

The bill lays out frankly draconian enforcement authority for Massachusetts law enforcement. As Sullum reports, it would give police officers who discover suspects in possession of newly-illegal vape products the power not only to confiscate the products themselves, but also the “receptacle” they are stored in, which could include their vehicle. This, under the process known as civil asset forfeiture — basically legal theft — would allow the state government to expropriate and sell vapers’ property, then “deposit the proceeds in the General Fund.”

Of course, it’s not exactly shocking to see nanny state liberal lawmakers banning harmless vaping products in regulatory overreach, as this kind of idiocy is all the rage today. But this is just insane.

And vaping restrictions are becoming popular even among Republicans who profess belief in limited government, such as President Trump. But the extensive authority that this particular Massachusetts bill would give law enforcement reaches new levels of awful and represents an all-out assault on liberty and property rights.

It’s almost mind-boggling. How can the lawmakers behind this bill actually think that the use of illicit vaping products justifies the seizure of someone’s car?!

But this sort of thing is more common than you might think. As documented by the libertarian-leaning law firm Institute for Justice, most states let police departments keep some of the profit from the property they seize (how’s that for a bad incentive structure?), require low standards of proof to seize property, and make victims prove their innocence, in a perversion of the core American principle of innocent until proven guilty. According to IJ, the federal government collected $28.8 billion in private property from 2001 to 2014 through this blatantly unfair practice.

Apparently, Massachusetts lawmakers want to further cash in, despite already having the worst civil asset forfeiture laws in the nation. This madness has officially gone too far. Anyone who cares about freedom should declare that enough is enough and tell Massachusetts state representatives to start respecting the property rights of the people who pay their salaries.