Jackson Co. Ohio gives ecigs to county employees

[AndriaD]

For me, vaping like smoking, needs to be established as a recreational activity. That it is currently 50/50 on it being a recreational activity and a smoking cessation wonder is okay given that it is still new and that there is a visible transition occurring in our (world) culture. It can be both recreational and smoking reduction/cessation, but I really feel strongly that foremost it ought to be treated as recreational activity. I think we have set ourselves up politically by marrying the use of eCigs to smoking (cessation) and that we then have to jump thru political hoops to claim it is so not like smoking, and is entirely distinct. If it is truly distinct, then it wouldn't be a cessation activity, for in that way it really is advocated like a wonder drug. And is something we've been nailed on, yet won a court battle based on idea that it is actually, as in really really, a recreational choice. Scolded publicly to stop claiming it will lead to smoking cessation, unless industry really wants FDA to treat it as a drug. IMO, no vaping vendor needs to go there as word of mouth in the information age can easily cover that. If industry sticks to recreational aspect, then politically aware vapers can stick to correcting zealot rhetoric and stave off their attempts to treat vaping as if it is just like smoking.

I agree that vaping is not "just like smoking" -- there are a great many differences, and reconciling oneself to those differences seems to be a very important part of being able to use vaping for successful smoking cessation. To me, the main way they are alike is that they can "scratch the same itch." I vape sweet fruit flavors; I don't have to drop everything and run outside in order to vape; and the smell doesn't seem to offend anyone who's smelled my vapor -- yet when I feel "that need," vaping satisfies it.

Some of "that need" may be chemical, but certainly not the biggest part -- I'm down to 1.8% WTA and 7.5mg nicotine, so I'm not getting much "chemical" from it at all. When I tried the patch, I found it utterly useless, because I still felt the oral need -- the urge to "suck" something and inhale it -- I wandered around sucking on straws, hoping it would help, but it really didn't, because an empty straw provides no resistance in the pull -- which is why I'm pretty much certain that I will *always* be a tight-draw mouth-to-lung vaper; I have a real need for that sensation, which is more similar to sucking a thick milkshake thru a straw than anything else -- but you don't inhale milkshakes, and if you consume too many, you get fat and/or diabetic.

I think the major problem with "smoking cessation" as the industry has come to embody it, is that it is perceived to be a medical problem -- replacing the pertinent chemicals. But it is so much more than that, I think is the main reason why a medical methodology has not worked and will not work; I would venture to guess, just from my own experience, that at least 80% of the "addiction" is behavioral. Behavior *can* be changed, but it is far harder to change long-standing (decades long) behavior, than it is to replace and gradually wean from chemicals, particularly when the behavior you aim to change is very often a stress-reliever -- just trying to change behavior induces stress, so it's a Catch-22. If you replace the *action* of smoking, you stand a much better chance of actually changing the dangerous behavior, because instead of trying to eliminate the behavior, you're simply substituting something far less harmful. THR, in a nutshell.

Andria

 

[DC2]

What she said.

Like Jman8, I too feel a bit unique.
I smoked around 7 cigarettes per day for 27 years.

I don't really know if I was ever addicted in any way, from a chemical standpoint.
But I sure know that I was addicted from a behavioral standpoint.

The ritual of smoking, and the behaviors surrounding it, gave me things that I NEED in my life.
And it's not entirely certain that nicotine was ever one of those things.

Even when I was smoking I could go all day without one if the stars aligned properly.
Well, at least after that first one, which was the one that helped me get ready for the day ahead.

But I do know that I never would have quit smoking without a suitable replacement.

--A reason to get away from something/everything for 15 minutes
--A mindless activity to do while pondering issues that needed my attention and focus
--A soothing ritual, complete with visuals (swirling smoke) and rhythmic breathing to help relieve stress
--A break to prepare myself for a hard task ahead
--A tangible reward for completing a hard task

And I tried many things that were hoped to become suitable replacements, but turned out not to be.
Vaping has given me those things, without any need to smoke a cigarette.

Some will not understand my viewpoint whatsoever.
Especially those that may actually be quite addicted themselves.

I do believe that there are some here that ARE addicted to nicotine.
And I also believe there are many here that think they are but really may not be.

And I know that there are many here that know exactly what I'm talking about.
The main point being, we are all different, no matter what THEY want you to think or believe.

But I do know that I can smoke a cigarette anytime I feel like doing so, with no repercussions.
And that is the real freedom as far as I'm concerned.

 

[sofarsogood]

But I do know that I can smoke a cigarette anytime I feel like doing so, with no repercussions. And that is the real freedom as far as I'm concerned.

I believe the same about myself and I smoked a lot more cigs than you ever did. I have smoked 2 cigs in the past year to make a point to others, that I really am free of them. However the experience was unpleasant. I felt no urge to have another. Cigs are obsolete.

 

[r77r7r]

I believe the same about myself and I smoked a lot more cigs than you ever did. I have smoked 2 cigs in the past year to make a point to others, that I really am free of them. However the experience was unpleasant. I felt no urge to have another. Cigs are obsolete.

Congrats on your 1 yr vaping

 

[sofarsogood]

Congrats on your 1 yr vaping

Thanks, and I'm still healing, still bouncing back. I can feel it. I figure that will continue for another year and what ever is still left, I'm stuck with.

One more point about emloyers encouraging employees to quit. If employees aren't wasting money on cigarettes they are living a lot better on what they are being paid. That's a big plus for the employer. I'm allowed to vape on my shop floor. There are five others and I think there will be more. It's a very good environment for encouraging the switch and very enlighted of the employer to use the opportunity. So my shop would be a second example of what the Jackson County news story talks about.

 

[DC2]

Thanks, and I'm still healing, still bouncing back. I can feel it. I figure that will continue for another year and what ever is still left, I'm stuck with.

You may find this interesting...

As previously noted, I only smoked around 7 cigarettes per day, but for 27 years.
And I did not realize that I had any smoking-related health issues until I quit.

When I was smoking I could barely hold my breath for 30 seconds.
About a year after I started vaping I could hold my breath for 90 seconds.

Last time I tried I held my breath for 120 seconds.

 

[AndriaD]

You may find this interesting...

As previously noted, I only smoked around 7 cigarettes per day, but for 27 years.
And I did not realize that I had any smoking-related health issues until I quit.

When I was smoking I could barely hold my breath for 30 seconds.
About a year after I started vaping I could hold my breath for 90 seconds.

Last time I tried I held my breath for 120 seconds.

When I first started using the Advair, I had a hard time holding my breath for the full 10 seconds you're supposed to, after you inhale it... now I can easily hold it for 15 seconds!

Andria

 

[sofarsogood]

What occurs to me today is that the only useful purpose of banning ecigs where cigarettes are banned, including private businesses, is to remove incentives for smokers to quit. This must be intentional.

When I said the Jackson Co. incentives were the first I'd heard of I forgot my own employer tolerates vaping on the shop floor, which is an incentive to try ecigs and could very well lead to a switch. It worked for me and 5 others in the past year. A lot of employers could do the same and it would get results. Local governments who take restrictive actions curry favor with State government, where most of the tobacco tax revenues are collected.

 

[AndriaD]

What occurs to me today is that the only useful purpose of banning ecigs where cigarettes are banned, including private businesses, is to remove incentives for smokers to quit. This must be intentional.

When I said the Jackson Co. incentives were the first I'd heard of I forgot my own employer tolerates vaping on the shop floor, which is an incentive to try ecigs and could very well lead to a switch. It worked for me and 5 others in the past year. A lot of employers could do the same and it would get results. Local governments who take restrictive actions curry favor with State government, where most of the tobacco tax revenues are collected.

Yes, the guy that first helped me get interested in vaping is one of my husband's co-workers; I asked about the guy vaping at work, and my husband said the company had no problem with it at all, which really ...... off the few smokers, since they still have to go outside. But apparently his company understands that vaping *isn't* the same as smoking, and there is no problem with anyone vaping in the plant or the office.

Andria

 

[Kent C]

What occurs to me today is that the only useful purpose of banning ecigs where cigarettes are banned, including private businesses, is to remove incentives for smokers to quit. This must be intentional.

When I said the Jackson Co. incentives were the first I'd heard of I forgot my own employer tolerates vaping on the shop floor, which is an incentive to try ecigs and could very well lead to a switch. It worked for me and 5 others in the past year. A lot of employers could do the same and it would get results. Local governments who take restrictive actions curry favor with State government, where most of the tobacco tax revenues are collected.

My friend works at a factory where during a period - about a year and a half ago, the had an ecigarette seminar and encouraged (and even subsidized) ecigarette use. And ecig use on the floor was allowed. Since that time, it's been banned. Not sure exactly what happened, but he said the original seminar was for the exact reasons you mention - and that it increased production by eliminating people taking 'cig breaks' (iow, unauthorized types) .

 

[sofarsogood]

My friend works at a factory where during a period - about a year and a half ago, the had an ecigarette seminar and encouraged (and even subsidized) ecigarette use. And ecig use on the floor was allowed. Since that time, it's been banned. Not sure exactly what happened, but he said the original seminar was for the exact reasons you mention - and that it increased production by eliminating people taking 'cig breaks' (iow, unauthorized types) .

Ah, good one. This would be an example of a news story that's yet to be written. Employers should never meddle in employees private lives but they still have an interest in their employees living well on their pay. There may be an organization that keeps track of what employers are doing about employee policies including ecigs who know about enough examples to provide some perspective. Some local goernments are trying to interfere with efforts to help smokers quit when they extend their restrictions to property they don't own. Follow the money.