Message sent in opposition to proposed e-cig ban

[Xcighippy]

Dear Mayor;

I would urge you to please reconsider imposing the 45 day moratorium on e-cig stores. As a 35 year former smoker, I can attest to the fact that e-cigs work when all other methods fail. I have over the years used the patch, anti-depressants, gum, nic inhaler,and hypnosis. All to no avail. Since using an e-cig six months ago, I have been completely smoke free and can say with reasonable certainty that cigarettes are out of my life for good. Thanks to the e-cig.
What is amazing to me is that technology comes up with a safe alternative to a habit that kills millions and people want to ban it! This makes no sense. I would say that any group or agency (FDA) that states that there is not enough research to say they are safe is either ignoring or is unaware of the studies that have been done. I have done extensive internet searching on this subject and can conclude that the studies that have been done indicate that e-cig use is FAR safer than tobacco products. Instead of banning e cigs, they should be any health advocate's dream product!
As an aside, There are lots of studies that show cigarettes kill people. No studies show the same for e-cigs.

As far as e-cig stores selling products that promote drug us. Have you ever been to a Vape store? You should visit one. You will see that they are all about safe, tobacco free alternative's, and have nothing to do with promoting drug use.
It is beyond me how a city could allow killer cigarette stores to operate and ban safe smoke free alternative stores. Does this make sense to you? I hope so.
Again, Please reconsider. Or at least, do some research on how people have greatly benefited from this new technology.


Sincerely


Above is a letter I sent the mayor's of Union City, CA in response to a proposed moratorium on e-cig stores in their city.

 

[mgjohn]

Being in a neighboring county I sent:

Elected Official,
Please consider this when acting on e-cig commerce. I was a life-long smoker of forty-plus years, when my son called and said he was sending me something in the mail. The package arrived a few days later containing some objects I wasn’t familiar with. I believed they were an electronic cigarette (e-cig), but I didn’t know how they worked, it looked complicated and so I dismissed it. Later that day my son called and explained that he and his girlfriend had completely quit smoking after many years when beginning use of the e-cigs and that I could too. I was very skeptical, I never believed I would quit after many times trying. But if he wanted me to try, I would. That was on March 18th of 2013 and I haven’t smoked cigarettes since I began e-cigs. Thanks to the e-cig industry and thanks to my son, I have hope again to extend my life beyond all expectations. Please also consider the published information below:

Sweanor, D., et al., Tobacco harm reduction: How rational public policy could transform a pandemic, International Journal of Drug Policy (2007), doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2006.11.013

"Nicotine, at the dosage levels smokers seek, is a relatively innocuous drug commonly delivered by a highly harmful device, cigarette smoke. An intensifying pandemic of disease caused or exacerbated by smoking demands more effective policy responses than the current one: demanding that nicotine users abstain. A pragmatic response to the smoking problem is blocked by moralistic campaigns masquerading as public health, by divisions within the community of opponents to present policy, and by the public-health professions antipathy to any tobacco-control endeavors other than smoking cessation. Yet, numerous alternative systems for nicotine delivery exist, many of them far safer than smoking. A pragmatic, public-health approach to tobacco control would recognize a continuum of risk and encourage nicotine users to move themselves down the risk spectrum by choosing safer alternatives to smoking ??? without demanding abstinence."

http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/DRUPOL_633.pdf
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter
Martin Johnson

and one of the Commissioners replied back said she read and would keep the info in mind at tonights meeting...

So, we do what we can do
MGJ