I see a lot of people condemning e-cigarette users for their nicotine addiction and not appreciating that they are no longer smoking.
How have we, as a society, gone from "smoking is bad" to "ALL addiction is bad?"
An addiction is bad only if the risks/harm outweigh the benefits. However, nicotine use WITHOUT smoke isn't really any worse than drinking coffee. Yes, the addiction is stronger, but it doesn't harm the user any more than caffeine use and there are many more caffeine users than there are smokers. Caffeine is in chocolate, soda, coffee, tea, energy drinks, diet supplements and more. Similar health risks to nicotine, used far more widely than nicotine, yet nicotine is somehow worse just because it is more addictive?
Addiction is not automatically "bad." Romantic intercourse has no purpose other than to make us feel good. Without it, many people have "withdrawl" symptoms - increased anxiety, irritability, mood swings, decreased concentration, etc. - clear symptoms of an addiction in every sense. So, does that "addiction" automatically make it a bad thing? Obviously not, but it COULD be if you consider how someone goes about getting it. Intercourse could be bad if done with numerous partners without protection, prostitution, porn, etc. But it's the negative behaviors & risks associated with it - not the act (addiction) itself - that is bad.
People who use nicotine obtain some benefit - it has a calming effect, it's a pick-me-up, it helps concentration, it helps with depression or any number of reasons why people keep using it after they start. The worst thing about nicotine use was the negative health effects caused by the SMOKE from tobacco cigarettes and that it kept people smoking, not the nicotine addiction itself.
E-cigarettes do not contain smoke and consist of all FDA-approved ingredients - propylene glycol, food flavoring and nicotine. None of which are known to have significant health risks in the amounts found in e-cigarettes. How anyone can even think that they would be anywhere near as dangerous as tobacco smoke is beyond comprehension - it lacks all reason and scientific logic.
Seven years on the world market and three years in the U.S. and there have been no reports of illness or injury attributed to e-cigarette use. That's THREE YEARS of real-world testing just in the U.S. alone and no adverse effects have been reported. In fact, nearly all users have been reporting improved health and vitality. Compare that to FDA-approved Chantix, which was APPROVED after clinical trials, yet proceeded to start killing people within months after release onto the market and real-world use. So, is lab testing really that more reliable than the real-world testing?
To expect that a teen will buy $35 - $150 e-cigarettes because they are "cool gadgets" and have "candy flavors" and then switch to foul-tasting, non-gadget tobacco cigarettes is a complete contradiction that people don't seem to notice. If the FDA would just regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products, they would automatically be banned for sale to minors by federal law and could be regulated for safe manufacturing. Yet the FDA and public health groups have fought that classification and even refused to allow the passage of legislation which would have banned the sale to minors while leaving them available as an option for adult smokers. What is the real motivation here?
E-cigarettes are quite possibly one of the most significant advancements for public health to come along in decades and people are opposing them based on irrational, baseless fears and personal judgments.
It defies all logic and reason. Think about it.
