CBC Radio The Current will discuss Ecigs this morning!

[Hello World]

I think these zealot control/cencorship groups are making a serious calculation error thinking that if e-cigs are kept out of the hands of minors it will reduce tobacco smoking. They do not think in terms of workable solutions, but in horse-blinder fashion ... peddle moralistic "idée fixe" agendas.

Until some clear-cut statistics become available (and they've had plenty of time to work on them but instead have been too busy scheming how to ban e-cigs) this is merely unsubstantiated rhetoric.

At least 100,000 youngsters start tobacco smoking every year in Canada. If these can get a hold of cigarettes, then they can also get a hold of e-cigs, and I in no way advocate they should not be subject to the same controls.

Should over the next 5 years 50% of the youngsters opt for e-cigs instead of tobacco, has a betterment of health conditions not occurred? Would these same utopishly idealistic zealots not frenziedly ring the alarm bells with Health Canada again as a reason to ban them?

They cannot think as far as "solutions" or "improved conditions" ... objectivity is not on their agenda, that point made abundantly clear when it gets down to being concerned about "Image" and "Associations" .... these groups having completely lost their focus, if they ever had one to begin with.

And on another note, vaping is not smoking, so that begs the question why the CBC even gave Melanie of the "Non-smoker Rights Association" the time of day in the first place. Looks like the CBC wants to make them an authority on e-cigs which they are not -- they're completely ignorant.

Bottom line, neither HE nor any anti-smoking lobby has any power over products that are in demand. Minors are not even to the remotest degree interested in regulations, but would be more likely influenced by their own health concerns if a decent alternative to cigarettes exists. And if they want to tax the daylights out of it and they can't afford it, daddy's Visa is the gateway to DIY. It's all nice and fine talking about regulations, it's another matter altogether making them work.

No matter what they want to regulate, nothing in all practicality is going to change. People will do whatever they want. Asia will develop more clever means of shipping, and to this day I can still get 2 lbs. of cured Indonesian tobacco for under $ 50 (Shipping & taxes incl.), as can any kid with access to a credit card.

If it meant I could go to a local B&M to get supplies, I'd be ok with regulation. Yes, there would likely be some taxes added on, but as long as prices remain reasonable, that'd be the price we, as vapers, pay.

70% of the price of cigs in Canada is taxes ... they're not gonna let that go.

We need a lobby group, seriously.

As much as I'm for Gov't/HE approval, that however comes with a price tag in that my DIYing will become regulated/illegal ... not that it actually matters to me personally as I'm beyond the scope of being busted anyways.

Regulations are of benefit to e-juice vendors, not to DIYers.

I'm very sure all this will remain underground for quite some time to come, whether approved or made illegal by them ... but it's here to stay. E-cig technology can no longer be made to go away. Everybody was boozing their a$$es off during prohibition too.

 

[Projectguy]

I agree however she did come across as being concerned, after all the work her organization has done to vilify smoking, over the similarity of vaping to smoking, thereby undoing all of her work.

Not to mention that the CLA is also concerned about the "normalization/glamorizing" of smoking. That fear is out there, and they are crossing the line IMO.

If anything our purpose is to normalize and glamorize vaping not smoking.....been there done that!

 

[Projectguy]

Good post and IMHO you are understanding what we are facing in the future

I see this issue in two ways, lets call it good and evil. The good side says that some form of regulation is in fact needed in this industry. Now before anyone gets all bent out of shape let me explain that point a little further. Here is an example, I go onto store x and ask the clerk for a 30 ml bottle of e juice at 18 mg nic level and I am putting my faith in that persons ability to correctly mix the juice that I am going to put into my body. What happens if they miscalculate and the nic level is way too high? This is where I see a real need for some form of regulation.

Go here Grasshopper

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...urers-standards-association-launches-136.html

Now for that evil I mentioned earlier, and it may just be my cynical outlook on all things big business and government but that's a whole other story. As it stands right now the big tobacco businesses are making boatloads of money off of smokers knowing full well that it is a damn hard habit to kick. So here comes this new trend in vaping that is picking up steam (pun fully intended) and gaining popularity for one simple reason....it works. So what we have is big tobacco losing customers which they really don't like and we also have the big pharmaceutical companies that are all too willing to sell us expensive "proven" methods to quit also knowing full well that they really don't work and they will likely have repeat customers for those that continue to try and kick the habit.

So the biggest issue with anyone that finds a solution like vaping that gets them off of analogs is that neither of these big businesses are making any more money off of us. To me that is the real issue here and until they figure out a way to make money off of it there will continue to be the same battles. Just google how much money these two groups contribute to the government and you will see how all three are laughing all the way to the bank while the masses continue to slowly poison themselves and others with one the most wide spread and most addictive substances know to man.

Remember the black & white japanese movie King Kong versus Godzilla? Well lets lets say KK is BT and G is BP. KK and G are fighting it out at levels we don't /will ever see. BT is a "dying business" with excellent skill and experience in staying alive and BP are trying to get everyone to try their purple kool aid. It just so happens that we vapers writ large are the luscious young lady with the expansive mammaries who are the prize. That battle is one that is being fought in Washington as HC will happily toe the line. Actually neither will die but one will take the prize - my money is on BT as Zyban and Champix are only one of many product lines while nicotine is the heart of BT, more motivation and Wall Street would rater an industry that has made a "date bed confession" than one who keeps mistakenly killing people.

If the government really and truly cared about its people they would have outlawed cigarettes decades ago. Study after study has proven that they are killers but you can get them on any corner of any city world wide. Sure doesn't seem like they care about the general public to me unless they want your money that is.

Your absolutely right and in effect they tried by raising taxes in the 70's. All it did was drive cigarettes into the black market and give rise to one of the world's most profitable (by profit as a % of sales) tobacco companies "Grand River Enterprises".

 

[NickFit]

I see what you mean about the taxes... regulation is good for standards etc... but the government is going to need that tax money that they will lose from tobacco if vaping goes totally mainstream. It is a toss up isn't it. They won't give up that tax revenue, even though the taxes are supposed to be due to the higher cost of healthcare... once government gets a tax, they never give it up, it just grows. In that way, I can see regulation as possibly being a bad thing.

 

[Oriana871]

Whoa. Well the CBC clearly chose to support Ms. Tilson's concerns by only reading listener comments that were negative toward ecigs. i'm shocked.

 

[Oriana871]

You can comment on today's listener feedback here:

https://www.facebook.com/cbcthecurrent

We need to keep it up folks .

 

[Lilkurty]

Everyone feel free to write or call The Current, on Thursdays listeners comments are aired.

I have emailed my comments!

 

[Greg__B]

Couldn't have said it any better than that! Well said! Vape on!

Here is what I sent to "The Current"

Sent from Mars using my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator

 

[Lilkurty]

Ok I wrote something really fast, hope it comes across ok:

I am writing in reaction to the fear that electronic cigarettes will "undermine tobacco control gain" as stated by Melodie Tilson and further backed up by the Canadian Lung Association. Using an electronic cigarette, although it looks and acts similar to a real one, is not one. An electronic cigarette does not burn carcinogens, it does not smell like a cigarette nor does it produce a foul odor and the water vapor does not linger. It also does not produce "second-hand smoke" Secondhand Electronic Cigarette Vapor is Harmless, New Study Says - Yahoo! News. Not to mention that a majority of the ecigs being used contain no nicotine at all.

One would think that the thousands, if not millions, of people who have had no success quitting smoking from any other NRT, but that have successfully given up smoking with an electronic device, would be a very positive gain. It seems to me that Ms. Tilson, the CLA, Health Canada, etc. are actually cutting off their nose to spite their face. The fact that the anti-smoking campaigns are so set against anything that remotely resembles a cigarette I doubt would legally stand a chance in court. The general public are not their children. There comes a point where they go to far. If they wish to use that argument then I suggest that real cigarettes stop being produced and sold, that alcohol stop be produced and sold and consumed in public, that junk food stop being produced and sold and marketed, that casinos are closed down, that violent computer games be outlawed. People will always have negative influences around them and will find a way to do what they want in the end, no matter what deterrents are set in place.

Electronic cigarettes do not effect non-smokers the same way as real cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes will not promote non smokers to take up smoking. Candy flavored juice will not cause your teenage daughter to take up vaping, and if it does, it's better then smoking. Real cigarettes taste vile compared to an electronic cigarette. Please stop lumping them into the same category. Enough is enough.

How about " AntE Cigarette"

 

[Lilkurty]

In fact if I may shamelessly copy the work of another Canadian vaper on a forum which will remain nameless it is a

P.E.N.I.S.

Personal
Electronic
Nicotine
Inhalation
System

There you have it.

"So what is that you have in your mouth?"

Oh, it's my P.E.N.I.S!