My post was to the OP. I could have written it better I think now, but that's hindsight. My words you put in bold above were not meant to attack vapers, vaping or ECF'ers, or to tell anyone what they should think or do . I wrote what I thought and though I knew it would probably be controversial, I never thought it would be as negatively received as it was. Live and learn! It would be sad to think there are topics that we can not discuss on ECF, just because we don't/won't go 'there'.
Vape happy!
There are a few problems with the idea that we have an obligation to cut back. Nicotine is under investigation as a very promising treatment for dementia, ADD, and other things. In the concentrations we use, it's only slightly more addictive or toxic than caffeine. Other compounds in tobacco are under investigation as anti-psychotics. And it is proven to enhance cognition for some people.
Pharmaceuticals AND cuisine AND 'sin' things have all been taken from or copied from herbal medicine until the extremely recent genetic study ability arrived, and even then, most new drugs are herbal. Even things like Tamiflu, the miraculous discovery of drugs that help against viruses....are herbal. Chinese Star Anise. (there is another Star Anise that isn't it, btw) The year of the shortages of the flu drugs was caused by a bad harvest in China. And probably almost all medicine is toxic in overdose by definition -- if it works, it is because it affects the body, which means it really is poison of a sort in carefully controlled doses. Even caffeine and alcohol and ephedra and rosemary.
And one big difference between herbalists and Western medicine is that herbalists know what Western medicine is only now very reluctantly willing to admit -- herbs often work better when you do NOT single out a single ingredient as "the active ingredient." Even vitamin C works better when part of the orange juice rind, with associated phytochemicals, are included. In other words, Orange Marmalade is the WTA of vitamin C.
Tobacco is an herb which IMO is completely legitimate to take, even for a lifetime. There have been gene studies of people who can't seem to quit smoking NO MATTER WHAT and genetic similarities have been found in those people.
The FDA has been on the warpath against herbal supplements for at least a generation. Herbalists want the FDA to treat them like food, which is allow them but disallow contaminants or mislabeling of contents. I want the same thing for the sacred herb of many East Coast Indian tribes -- tobacco.
I think pharmaceuticals are well and good, and needed. But I don't think they should be able to require a license to produce coffee, or grape seed extract, or even star anise extract, or tobacco extract. Or to tell me that I have ZERO ability to heal myself without paying an insurance company or BP.
So I'm vaping my herb because smoke inhalation is really bad, and I never ever had an intention to stop the herb, only the smoke inhalation.
and thank you very much! And I'm sorry I made you feel bad about it.
