Good points about not knowing what's in your neighbor's PV!
Several organizations have invested in risk reduction research on college students and alcohol consumption at parties.
Several studies have found that requiring students provide their own drinking container (no actual beer bottles or other containter that makes its contents obvious being allowed) signifcantly cut down on the amounts of alcohol served. Students tesifed that this practice seriously cut down on the 'peer pressure' to drink.
"I can have plain water, or even an empty cup...and no one knows the difference."
"Someone isn't always walking over and handing me a cup full of something this way. When I want more, I go fill my squeeze bottle."
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Once PVs have been around a while longer...I don't see why they should be any different from chewing gum or candy if it is absent of nicotine or other 'drugs'. Candy is known to cause all kinds of dental problems, and chewing gum can even lead to middle ear problems if over used.
Yes, gum and candy are both 'discouraged' in many schools, and in some cases even banned; however, it is usually based on factors other than distorted health risks. I.E. It can make expensive messes, or cause disruptions.
Caution is understandable...and heaven knows it's hard enough raising kids without yet one more expensive fad, but banning things just because of stero-types and stigmas is exactly the opposite of what our constitution stands for.
NCC: I was not expressing an opinion about the relative merits of banning use in schools. An argument can be made that anything that is a distraction could be prohibited in a classroom, at the discretion of the teacher. I was expressing my disbelief in the argument that e-cigarette use must inevitably lead to smoking tobacco cigarettes.
$30 is still a lot more money than a pack of smokes--especially when quite a few of these kids obtain their smokes for free (by filching them from their parents). But even if we go along with your argument that using an e-cig could develop into a "cool" factor, it still does not follow that using an e-cigarette must lead to smoking.
Have you ever been to a Vapefest? Can you tell by looking what strength of nicotine someone is using?
If e-cigs become cool, kids can look cool by using zero-nic just as easily as using cartridges with nicotine. If nicotine had an intoxicating effect, I might buy the argument. Instead, it has the "uncool" effect of making the user more alert, better able to concentrate and pay attention and, as a result, get better grades. Mind you I am not claiming that nicotine would force kids to get better grades--just make it easier to do so for the kids with attention deficits or memory retrieval problems. However, in my experience the kids who smoke cigarettes are the ones who think it is cool to bully the kids who make good grades.
