The new tobacco war; They may be safer, but could e-cigs renormalize smoking?
For the most part, it's a fairly middle-of-the-road write-up explaining the basics of vapor products and outlining the various controversies surrounding them. But things really go off the rails when Ms. Palmer (who works, unsurprisingly, as a tobacco cessation counselor) takes center stage:
Ms. Palmer's email: anne@customizeyourquit.com
Ms. Palmer's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anne.palmer.904
For the most part, it's a fairly middle-of-the-road write-up explaining the basics of vapor products and outlining the various controversies surrounding them. But things really go off the rails when Ms. Palmer (who works, unsurprisingly, as a tobacco cessation counselor) takes center stage:
“I empathize with smokers who do think they’re going to quit by using e-cigarettes, but they lose me when they tell me they quit smoking but they’re still smoking e-cigarettes,” said Anne Palmer, a smoking cessation counselor and owner of Customize Your Quit in Bend. “They’re still smoking the nicotine. They have not quit smoking. They’ve simply changed the delivery method.”
Palmer said she hasn’t had one client who’s actually quit smoking traditional cigarettes by using e-cigarettes. She says that’s because vaping continues the nicotine addiction and mimics the hand-to-mouth action of smoking.
“I understand that people are very passionate. ‘Oh yeah, I switched to e-cigs. I feel so much better.’ That’s great but these people are masters of delusion, they smoked all of those years and the only way you can continue to do that is by lying to yourself about the fact that you’re poisoning yourself 20, 30 times a day.”
Nor does she buy the harm reduction model.
“We’ve been down this road before. We’ve gone through it with menthol, we went through it with light cigarettes and then low-tar. It was all nonsense,” she said. “I think it’s wishful thinking for people to say that all of a sudden the tobacco industry has come up with a safe smoke. They’ve shown a wanton disregard for their clients and I don’t see that changing with e-cigarettes.”
Ms. Palmer's email: anne@customizeyourquit.com
Ms. Palmer's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anne.palmer.904