Last week, the Huffington Post featured an article on electronic cigarettes written by Tony Newman, director of media relations at Drug Policy Alliance, where he discussed his opinion and personal experience with electronic cigarettes. For once, the discussion was positive and logical and spoke for all ex-smokers who now use e-cigs.
Tony Newman himself was able to kick the habit by switching to the tobacco free alternative of vaping and he had long to say about the current political climate surrounding them. “Smokers aren’t stupid. When offered a safer model to obtain their nicotine, millions will choose it.” Newman said. He himself being one of them, he instantly saw the benefit of switching from smoke to vapor and never looked back and argues that we should be cheering the fact that millions of people have been able to or are going to quit by switching to e-cigs.
Newman brings up the unfortunate points that too many health and anti-smoking officials are doing just the opposite of celebrating the technological advancement by trying to classify and regulate it as a tobacco product. With opportunistic politicians and lobbyists making uninformed decisions, they effectively stigmatize e-cigarettes by banning their use in public spaces, even as far as outdoor parks and beaches, even though they present no second hand vapor harm like tobacco smoke would. The idea of trying to hide exposure of e-cigs in public is sending the wrong message to the public that vaping is bad.
Newman also touches on the New Jersey ban of sales of e-cigs to young adults under the age of 21, advising that e-cigarettes should be a tool to help young 20 year old smokers quit the habit much sooner than later, even suggesting the idea to use them as cessation devices as early as 17. He reminds us that not all is lost as many health professionals are taking note of recent findings and studies and now fully support the development and use of e-cigs and have pleaded to the WHO not to regulate them as tobacco. These health academics have said e-cigarettes could potentially save millions of lives directly affected by tobacco smoking.
Newman calls to all anti-smoking advocates to stop demonizing e-cigarettes as if they we’re tobacco. Vaping is not smoking, it does not contain the harmful smoke or tar and have been solidly determined to be vastly less dangerous than smoking. Smokers around the world by the millions have already spoken and accepted e-cigarettes as the best alternative presented to them to date, effectively touching on various physical and psychological challenges smokers face in order to quit.