My response to The Western Front "covering" a friend's vaping business:
It troubles me that every time The Western Front covers e-cigarettes, the anti-smoking hysteria of the late 20th-century creeps into every such article. Our society is so bent on keeping people from smoking that they will resort to scare tactics, emotional appeal, outdated and defunct studies, and pseudoscience to pursue their objective. With the advent of "vaping" or vaporizing, we are now witnessing the vilification of a smoking alternative we have yet to study in full. It is important to realize that e-cigarettes contain nicotine and other harmful substances, and have not been thoroughly examined in the scientific community, especially when concerning its long-term effects on users. However, people who vaporize and smoke should be able to do so while respecting those around them without their peers looking down on them. When The Western Front covered the Aslan Brewing Company this past February, there was no mention that alcohol can kill a person in one sitting, contribute to liver problems in the long-term, and is responsible for aggressive behavior and millions of violent crime each year. People should be able to do what they want to their own bodies, as long as they are not harming others. Everybody has a vice, whether it be drinking, smoking, or eating junk food. We all need to put this in perspective and stop trying to impede the rights of others.
More from me about e-cigarettes:
E-cig anxiety at WWU
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My issue is that a lot of e-cig users seem to think that e-cigs are SO different from regular cigarettes that they don't need to observe the same norms. Like, I don't care if e-cig vapor causes lung cancer or not, it just *stinks* and I don't want to be downwind of it. So if I'm in a non-(regular)-smoking area, I don't want to smell e-cig vapor.
ReplyDeleteSame goes for pot smoke. Blech.
The risks of an untested product, and the sketchy marketing practices engendered by the regulatory loopholes, are just icing on the cake.
Well, in the same way that you can't smoke a tobacco, a joint, or a cigarette in, say, a restaurant, the same applies to e-cigs, which some people will dismiss by saying, "Well, no, it's just water vapor." It isn't, and the point isn't that it's nicotine so much as it emits a smell.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, yeah my understanding of e-cigs was that it was a more effective way of helping cigarette addicts, so I can definitely agree that, like many other drugs, as long as you aren't harming others there shouldn't be a problem or stigma.