Should E-Cigarettes be regulated in Alberta?

The devices use an atomizer to vapourize a liquid solution of water, nicotine and flavourings.

Canada's health ministers are meeting in Banff this week and one of the topics they're talking about is Electronic Cigarettes and whether they should be regulated like tobacco products.

The so-called vapour pens work by heating up a liquid mixture to produce water vapour, infused with flavours and usually nicotine.

The devices are not regulated by the provinces or the federal government and because they're not tobacco, they fall outside most smoking regulations.

On Tuesday, Alberta’s new Health Minster Stephen Mandel said he'd like to see them banned in most public places the same as tobacco products.

“I would hope that we would take the same position on those as we did on other tobacco products and push that through would be my position and I hope that the Alberta government would support that. It's my position that these are dangerous drugs, from what I’ve been told, not dangerous drugs, dangerous materials and we should deal with them in that way,” said Mandel.

E-Cigarette defenders say they aren't the same as cigarettes and shouldn't be regulated or controlled.

Calgary's city council will hear the results of its study in June of next year and will look at rolling them into its existing smoking bylaw.

Some other municipalities are moving forward with legislation and Red Deer and Lethbridge have already banned them in public places.

(With files from Kevin Green)