How, exactly, are children supposed to get hooked?

[Newbz]

Heh. If I found my underage kid smoking a cigarette, I would beat his/her @$$.

I know how hard it is to quit. When I was done with the cigarettes, they weren't done with me and as you can tell from my sig, it took me forever to find a way to quit that works. I suppose I just wouldn't want my kid to go through what I have.

 

[toriL]

My very anti smoking 13 yr old daughter has asked me if I have any 0 nic juice so she could try vaping. I told her to put a piece of candy in her mouth and breathe in, then questioned her about why she'd even want to try it knowing that she hated my smoking all these years and knows how hard it is to stop. She said she just thinks it is cool. Personally I think kids are drawn to anything "Electric" and new - she's been told that when she is 18, has a job and credit card she can do as she pleases, but I'll never think its ok for her to try vaping, even 0 nic juice while she's underage.

 

[Jenn1181]

It's just their ploy to demonize e-cigs with the same (if not worse) level of derision they display toward analogs - by appealing to your emotions by using the kids. The whole, "won't someone please think of the children?!" argument. They claim that mall kiosks selling e-cigs makes kids want to use them. On that same token, could we say prominently placed, and 100% accessible, Victoria's Secret boutiques in the malls makes kids want to have sex? See, you have to be 18 or older to purchase a kit from a mall kiosk (you are ID'ed at those things), but anyone with a valid method of payment can buy racy lingerie.

Another argument that gets to me is the whole, "but the flavors like cherry and bubblegum make kids want to try them!" Gee, I suppose as adults we're supposed to be drawn to ugly, nondescript packaging and stuff that tastes like a fish's bunghole. It never seems to occur to anyone that grown-ups may like cherry and bubblegum flavors also. Nope. Just kids want that. Now, if they start making PVs with Disney Princesses on them and telling little girls that if they use an ecig Justin Bieber will want to date them, then we have a problem. Until then it's just a lot of noise coming from the anti-anything fun crowd.

 

[upStomp]

<rant>

Give the government the power to ban or regulate anything, and that power will eventually be used against you. It's this power that enables all the anti-<insert activity here> organizations to exist.

Many of us have experienced this level of intrusion in our lives for decades. As smokers, drinkers, drug users, firearm owners, gays, small business owners, minorities, home owners, doctors, women, etc - we've seen how lies and half truths can be used to benefit the politically powerful at the expense of individual freedom. We've also seen how the slippery slope of regulation in the name of safety ends up squashing innovation and denying rights and privileges to those who could otherwise use them. All the while a brand new (or "improved") alphabet agency gets to decide what's best for us all.

For some here on the forum, this may be your first real taste of it. The truth is, this is just the latest attack against our rights, and it will take many forms. The lies will spread to become perceptual truths - to the point where the public at large will demand the government grab more power to eliminate this latest scourge to society. This power grab will appear as a drop in the bucket to all but those who have been through it before.

We know there are risks in using these products. We know that there is information about these products that is currently unavailable. What the "banners" fail to understand is that this doesn't mean we aren't informed. We have weighed the risks and are willing to move forward. We are not children. We are not sheep.

To those that would call for a ban on electronic cigarettes, or any other consensual activity for that matter: Be a parent, be a friend, be an individual. And leave your neighbors alone.

</rant>

 

[spirits3250]

I think the e-cig would be an alternative to smoking more so than a starting point. Even if kids were attracted to it there is just so much involved here to use one that i just don't see it as something most would be willing to commit to. I also have a friend that bought her 17 year old son an e-cig, he lasted about 2 days with it. Its too much work for them, its easier to smoke real cigarettes. And at 17 he has a different mindset than the rest of us, he has not tried and failed for years to quit and he does not feel guilty for smoking for 2 or 3 years like some of us have for 20 or 30 years.

This is very true. Kids won't use the ecig because it's too much trouble. I got ecigs for two of my co-workers, both 21, and they both gave up on them after a few weeks because they were too much hassle...charging, buying juice, cleaning etc. It's just so much easier for them to go buy a pack & light up...from my experiences so far, the ecig is too much work for a younger person.