Contributed by Paul Johnson
I have successfully given up smoking cigarettes by using modern vapor devices and liquids, after over 45 years of tobacco use. Not because I was having health issues; frankly, I didn’t feel all that bad. Sure I was short of breath and my blood pressure was a little high but over all, if I took it easy, no serious issues. Like many others, I have lost friends and loved ones to tobacco smoking related illnesses and diseases. My family members have asked for years for me to quit out of concern, and the government and society in general have pushed and pushed to make America tobacco free because it is killing millions of people every year and there is evidence that second hand smoke is also harmful. As a result, I finally realized that it would be in my best interest to quit smoking, both for myself and in consideration of my fellow man.
Over the years I tried the patches, the gum hypnosis and even “cig-a-likes” to try and quit, only to relapse shortly after stopping the use of these products and methods. I didn’t know why until I discovered modern vapor devices and liquids. The “cig-a-likes” have been around since 1965, but have always been limited by battery life and flavor issues. They did provide significant tobacco harm reduction, but were inconvenient.
Modern technology provided the solution and my success in quitting smoking was immediate and sustained. Why? Because modern vapor devices provide the hand and mouth habit along with the visual perception of exhaling a vapor while providing the nicotine I enjoy. If you’ve never smoked, this is probably the thing you understand least: the physical habit or ritual.
If you do smoke, please try vaping. Don’t be fooled by the anti-vaping propaganda that has become so pervasive. Ask yourself why the same people that have been trying to convince you to quit smoking for decades are now trying to scare you into believing that the solution to their goal is as bad, if not worse than smoking tobacco. Vaping is not smoking. In fact, most vapers are anti-smoking advocates and reformed smokers.
Let’s look at an FDA funded study by the National Institute for Health, dated March 2016. Their conclusion was “The evidence suggests a strong potential for vaporized nicotine product use to improve population health by reducing or displacing cigarette use.” It goes on to say, “Countries whose policies discourage nicotine product use, run the risk of neutralizing a potentially useful addition to methods of reducing tobacco use.” Yet the FDA ignores its own science and instead “deems” modern vapor devices to be tobacco products less than a month later. Why?
I‘ve also been confronted by never smokers and anti-vapers who believe that vaping is just a new way of smoking. It is not. There are no carcinogens in modern vapor products except extremely low levels in the liquids that actually use tobacco as a flavoring. Most vapers prefer the hundreds of delicious flavorings that are now available. After all, they have quit smoking and want to rid themselves of tobacco forever.
The nicotine levels in the liquids can be adjusted to the user’s particular taste and are considerably lower than in traditional tobacco products. Some prefer zero nicotine liquids. There is no smoke from burned tobacco, only vapor and therefore no second hand smoke. The amount of expelled nicotine in the vapor is not measurable and therefore poses no second hand threat whatsoever. (Royal College of Physicians Report – 2015)
Furthermore, nicotine is being studied and used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s disease with promising success. It has been proven to be no more addictive or harmful than the caffeine in your morning coffee.
I’m the one who doesn’t understand. The government and society have pleaded for decades for smokers to quit smoking. Modern technology has provided that solution with little if any harm to the user and no harm to bystanders. Yet the government, big pharmaceutical companies and big tobacco companies are trying to vilify a product that has the potential of making the world tobacco free. Ask yourself why.