I was reading another post that really got me thinking. So I have been a smoker for 14 years. I started smoking when I was 13 years old and am now 27. Just a couple months ago, I jumped onto the Electronic Cigarette, or E Cig, craze. I am stoked that I decided to do so because in that time I feel healthier ( note healthier not healthy), I don’t smell like smoke and cigarettes any longer, and I have saved a lot of money over that time. What I don’t get is why in the hell E Cigs have to be scrutinized so heavily.
Ok cigarettes are unhealthy, yes, but that is a lifestyle decision that people make of their own free will. Even though cigarettes contain over 4,000 different chemicals, all of which are known to cause diseases and cancers, the people still buy and smoke them and the government still allows all of this to happen. I can understand the banning of smoking inside of buildings to protect the people around you. What I don’t understand is why E Cigs have to be placed under these same restrictions?
Not allowing minors, under 18 years old, to purchase them is understandable. Kids should not be making decisions or purchases like that until they are adults and able to do so if they choice to. E Cigs have been shown to not contain even a fraction of the harmful ingredients of a traditional cigarette. The liquid, or E Juice, used in an E Cig contains enough ingredients for you to count on your fingers. These include Propylene Glycol, or PG, Vegetable Glycerin, or VG, liquid Nicotine, and natural or artificial flavorings. Some standards have already been put forth to ensure that quality ingredients are being used in E Juice, which i completely support. The PG and VG have to be of USP food grade. The liquid Nicotine has to be of a certain purity. Most if not all ingredients found in E Juice are ingredients that you consume on a daily basis anyways when eating. Why is it that so many people are banning the smoking of E Cigs inside, you are exhaling a water vapor that contains no trace amounts of anything not the chemically toxin drenched second hand smoke of a cigarette.
Over the last few months, I have saved a ton of money. A good start up E Cig is around $30. A new coil for the tank that vaporizes your E Juice is $3 and only needs to be replace once a month, give or take. A 10ml bottle of E Juice is around $5, give or take depending on where you are buying it from, and can last you anywhere from a few days to over a week. A pack of cigarettes is over $5 and will last you a day, two if your not a heavy smoker. You do the math. I believe that a lot of the laws, rules, and regulations beginning to be slammed down on E Cigs is because of big tobacco companies losing so much money from people making the transition from analog to digital. I am a firm believer that government is full of lobbyists and people with big businesses in their pocket and they now both have to find a way to make up the money they are losing.
I will not say it is safe and healthy, no, but I will say it is safer and healthier than smoking traditional cigarettes. Many states are now selling medical marijuana, which once was evil, the devil, and a gateway drug. How many people drink and drive and kill other people, drink too much and die from alcohol poisoning, or drink for too long and develop health problems because of that. Why should something that is obviously changing peoples lives for the better be categorized as foul, inappropriate, and wrong just because big business and Uncle Sam say so??
Huskey's Randomness 