Joined yesterday and am currently working on my letter to Ellen Hahn.
Thank you for the action alert.
I refuse to let these people harm the people of Kentucky when the smoking rate is so high among it's citizenry and so much good can be done.
EDIT:
Here is a copy of my email in case anyone is curious.
Dear Madame:
My name is Troy Schulte and after twenty four years of smoking I was able to quit once and for all through the use of the personal vaporizer or electronic cigarette as it is more commonly known. I loved smoking, and it's no exaggeration to say that I loved it more than I loved my own life but after using this product I now know the repulsion that the nonsmoker feels toward the sight and smell of a lit cigarette. When I quit using other methods, and yes I tried them all, I failed in every attempt. I was tempted back into it by various ways but the biggest thing that I absolutely could not shake was the smell, even that terribly foul odor that clings to a persons hair and clothing that has just smoked was to me the most enticing smell you could imagine. When I returned to smoking after each failed attempt I could not imagine why I would ever have quit in the first place.
When I bought the personal vaporizer as a toy that I thought would maybe help me to replace just a few of the 45 to 60 cigarettes that I smoked each day and also as a last ditch effort just to say I had tried to my friends and family before giving up on the idea of being a non smoker forever the most amazing thing happened. After just the first week I had quit buying cigarettes, after the second week I bummed a cigarette from my friend after my battery had died and put it out after the first few draws on it. It tasted terrible, it smelled terrible, dealing with the ash was terrible, the nasty smell on my hand was also terrible and I rushed to wash it off of me. In that moment I was free, I knew in my heart I would never again smoke any tobacco product. As cliche as it sounds a weight was lifted from my shoulders and I knew my struggle to live tobacco free was over once and for all.
When you are an ex-smoker (and I was many times) you know you can never ever touch so much as one cigarette or you will most likely go back to smoking(which I did many times) and this product made something possible that I never thought could be possible. Me looking at cigarettes and considering them vile as opposed to longing for them.
Before I ever ordered my PV I did some research, I ordered USA made nicotine liquids made from ingredients that are approved for consumption by the FDA and currently in use in dozens of household products already being used by myself on a daily basis and felt that any risk this product posed was magnitudes of order less than using tobacco.
I appreciate your concerns for the children and also support laws to forbid access to these products to them but I find it difficult to believe that children would invest the amount of money and upkeep maintenance time into a PV that I have.
I am sorry to be so long winded and to take up so much of your time but I feel it is important for you to understand why users of this product are so vehement in their defense of it. It's been very difficult for me to watch this product that has been the only solution for me that has ever worked come under attack from organizations as varied as the FDA, Phillip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Pfizer, The American Lung Association and ASH among countless others.
I would like to humbly ask that you take some time to put in additional research before taking a stance on either side of the personal vaporizer debate. A complete prohibition on this product could prevent millions of American smokers access to a product that may just be the one that finally helps them to end their use of tobacco like it did for me.
You have my complete support in restricting access to minors of this product and I would assist you in this subject in any way that I can.
Thank you very much for your time,
Troy Schulte
