CHICAGO – An electronic cigarette ban inside nearly all public buildings in Chicago took effect earlier this week, CBS Chicago reports.

The Chicago City Council voted earlier this year to add e-cigarettes to the city’s indoor smoking ban, which prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants and inside most other public buildings. Only private homes and vehicles, designated smoking rooms at hotels and retail tobacco shops are exempt. The new rules also require retailers to sell e-cigarettes from behind the counter.

Supporters of the ban maintain that e-cigarettes can be as addictive as tobacco cigarettes and more enticing to minors. The ban was proposed by Mayor Emanuel’s administration, which argued that the devices target minors and serve as a gateway to nicotine addiction. Opponents of the ban said there is no proof that e-cigarettes lead to smoking and that they instead serve as a way for people to quit smoking.

Meanwhile, Delaware lawmakers are seeking to add electronic cigarettes to their state’s indoor smoking ban, under the Clean Indoor Air Act. Introduced earlier this week, the law revises the Act to prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes where tobacco smoking is currently prohibited. It was scheduled for a committee hearing this week.

On March 14, NACS issued a statement of position that encourages stores selling e-cigarettes to adopt, as a best practice, a policy of treating these products as age-restricted, subjecting them to the same age-verification procedures as those applicable to tobacco products.