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Then call your representative and tell them to pass a law that makes e-cigarettes illegal.
by Pinckney 7y ago
Then call your representative and tell them to pass a law that makes e-cigarettes illegal.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoSo kids go back to smoking non-e cigarettes like in the good ole days?
- jakelazaroff 7y agoIn recent years, teen vaping rates have increased far more than teen smoking rates have dropped. https://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2019/jun/12/tim-kaine/has-vaping-wiped-out-progress-reducing-youth-smoki/ https://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2019/jun/12/t...
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoThat still doesn’t excuse making e-cigarettes illegal and not normal cigarettes as well. Also, you have to compare against marijuana and other drugs as well if we are accounting for what teens are doing to act out.
- solveit 7y agoSure it does, we (should) decide policy based on what is possible, not what adheres to some God-given set of moral consistency conditions. A ban on e-cigarettes is probably politically feasible, a ban on cigarettes is not. Anyway, I still disagree with banning e-cigarettes because it seems they're so much less harmful than regular cigarettes that even if the marketing was so effective that everyone started vaping, I'm not sure the harms would outweigh the gains from smokers quitting.
- jakelazaroff 7y agoMaybe, but the point is that banning e-cigarettes won't result in all the e-cigarette users going back to normal cigarettes. E-cigarettes have grown the market, not simply captured a subset of existing smokers. I'd also point out that the problem isn't "acting out". It's the act of smoking cigarettes itself, which is objectively harmful. Marijuana is much safer. E-cigarettes seem to be as well, but the jury is still out.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoThere are many who have quit cigarettes that rely on e cigarettes to keep from relapsing. Banning e-cigarettes would just screw them like crazy. As someone who had to quit cold turkey, I can appreciate how hard this is, and how easy relapsing is. Even if the market is apart is partially grown, peer pressure and acting out was going to get many of those teens on something. If it is just vaping, that is much better than cigarettes, marijuana, heroin, meth, ... really, perfect is still the enemy of good.
- larkeith 7y agoThat's a false dichotomy, to say the least. There's a much different public view of e-cigarettes and non-e. Moreover, smoking bans are currently more widespread than vaping bans [1] - in many places, vaping is legal in situations where smoking is not. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vaping_bans_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vaping_bans_in_the_Uni...
- losteric 7y agoI'm not sure that situation was worse, considering how much more accessible e-cigarettes are in comparison. The experience of smoking was a big deterrent to nicotine addiction.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoThe primary health problems of smoking aren't caused by nicotine, but everything else that's in a cigarette. Alcohol equivalent of switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes would be switching from drinking shoe polish to drinking regular, bottled liquor.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoIt’s more like comparing a wine cooler to vodka.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoNo. The point of my comparison was highlighting that nicotine itself only gives you addiction, primarily when mixed with other stuff. It's that other stuff - present in regular cigarettes, absent in e-cigarettes - that damages your lungs and gives you cancer.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoI don’t think we disagree, vodka is hard liquor and will kill you, a wine cooler just has a touch of alcohol and probably the sugar is more harmful overall.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoI misunderstood the meaning of "wine cooler", and mistakenly thought you just meant 1/3 of power for the same volume. Sorry. Still, the shoe polish analogy was meant to convey that the harmful substances are incidental, and e-cigs give you smoking experience and nicotine without them.
- liability 7y agoOne step ahead of you buddy. :)
- dpbriggs 7y agoI'm not sure that's the solution - it removes a useful tool for curbing cigarette use. They're simultaneously cheaper, have no lingering smell, and (anecdata) are healthier. Regulators were too slow to ban advertisements of these devices; especially those aimed at kids. Furthermore, decades of anti-smoking media has removed any traces of 'cool' from cigarettes. e-cigarettes are too new to have this cultural benefit. But, you're right. There's a hooker in the closet. Remove the 'cool' from e-cigarettes. We could ban attractive flavours, and keep dull, boring ones. Besides, there's logistical issues with making them illegal. What to do with the addicted population? Push them into cigarettes (cheapest option)? Use public funds for replacement programs (expensive; low political will)? And finally, motivated teens will obtain whatever they want. Any such demand is supplied in an urban environment. This stuff is easy to make, easy to hide, and easy to import from other provinces/states.
- Causality1 7y agoI don't see the point of banning particular flavors. People use them for the nicotine. I haven't heard anyone clamoring to ban flavored alcohol, which is another life-destroying poison product that's illegal for children.
- jddj 7y agoWhile not a ban, alco-pop taxes are indeed a thing. They apply to flavoured alcoholic beverages which usually appeal more to young people. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcopop https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcopop
- Symbiote 7y agoThere used to be campaigns to ban flavored (fruity) alcoholic drinks in the UK, but first, we have a different idea of maturity (an 18 year old can purchase alcohol), and second, by now people in their 40s grew up with them. There was a significant increase in the tax on them in 1997, which led to products like flavored cider. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23502892 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23502892
- dpbriggs 7y ago
- adventured 7y agoJust about the last thing the US needs is another drug related black market problem. The US should generally be liberalizing on drug access and use, not making more recreational drugs illegal. There is a reasonable action between making it illegal and having e-cigarettes without any restrictions at all.
- autokad 7y agoits mind boggling that the same jurisdictions that want to make e-cigarettes illegal want to make shrooms and marijuana legal. absolutely mind boggling.
- michaelt 7y agoPresumably they believe the problem is things that are addictive rather than things that are drugs.
- spacemanmatt 7y agoMarijuana and mushrooms are not that harmful compared to e-cigarettes. It's a rational approach.
- makomk 7y agoDidn't that story about a mysterious rise in lung disease tied to vaping a couple of weeks ago implicate marijuana as the cause?
- Nasrudith 7y agoI heard THC technically it could indicate a lack of quality control in their products or delivery mechanism. Like bathtub gin for blindness - while alcohol isn't healthy the methanol was the actual cause. Expired vaccines have killed people for instance.
- spacemanmatt 7y agoNo, it implicated tobacco/nicotine based products. And it sounds like something significantly more dangerous than the usual vape products are involved. People have been vaping for years without being hospitalized their first few months of usage. This sticks out as highly unusual, regardless of your views on vape safety overall.
- magashna 7y agoOr maybe call your representative and pass a law that makes parents more responsible.
- soulofmischief 7y agoI'm sorry, how does that help? This case is about targeting minors and what you are suggesting infringes upon the basic human rights of an informed adult to make their own decisions about what they put in their body. Any legislation should only have the goal of ensuring citizens are informed.