E-Cigarettes Bad?
A Cranky Opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
The following is the opinion of a
cranky old man with minimal knowledge of the subject opined. Opposing opinions are welcome. They are wrong, but welcome. As always, please, no name calling, and that
goes for you, you big stupid-head!
I have read
several news stories of various groups wanting to ban e-cigarette use indoors,
to restrict sales, and to heavily tax their use. They are claiming that e-cigarettes are a
gateway drug to smoking which is a gateway drug to pot which is a gateway drug
to crack which is really bad stuff. They
claim e-cigarettes are targeting young people.
They claim that e-cigarette vapor contains toxic chemicals and traces of
nicotine. All of this sounds really bad.
I disagree
on the gateway drug status. Cigarettes
are addicting and horrible for your health.
Cigarettes bad! But e-cigarettes a gateway drug? They are a replacement to cigarettes, and
probably harmful, but not as harmful as cigarettes. I think the ultimate gateway drug is library
paste. Everyone I ever knew who ate
library paste in kindergarten ended up smoking cigarettes and ultimately ended
up as crack addicts. Ban library
paste. Library paste bad!
If the
e-cigarette people are targeting young people, stop it. The product does have nicotine and nicotine
bad!
Does the
e-cigarette vapor contain toxic chemicals and traces of nicotine? Maybe, though the chemicals are not
named. I would like to see people with
colds or the flu being banned from exhaling indoors. I would rather live in e-cigarette vapor than
take a single whiff of cold or flu phlegm.
E-cigarettes
are not good for you. Neither are
nicotine gums or nicotine patches. They
do help people quit smoking. They helped
me quit smoking. The patch sucked. The gum sucked. The e-cigarette allowed me to quit cold
turkey and if I was about to hit the wall I could take a little drag to help me
get by. Without it I might have bummed
a butt and then broken down and bought a pack and once you do that you are
done; cold turkey fail. The e-cigarettes
are a crutch when you try and quit.
I am sure
there are people who use the e-cigarette that have never smoked a
cigarette. I have never known one, but
they must exist. Everyone I have ever
known to try the e-cigarette did so to replace the real thing.
I just have
this sneaky feeling that the people who are disgusted with cigarettes see
the e-cigarette as a “loop-hole” to traditional smoking and they don’t like
it. They want smokers to quit and
suffer. They feel smokers deserve to
suffer. They must not be allowed an
alternative. E-cigarettes bad!
Are they
bad? Probably, but they are less bad,
and they do not affect other people. Can
you just throw smokers a bone? I know we
all love to hate smokers, but there are other people and products to hate.
Hate sugar
and sugar substitutes. Sugar is making
people fat, giving people diabetes and costing the healthcare system a
fortune. Soda companies target young
people with this poison. Sugar is
addictive! Oh yes it is! It probably kills more people than
cigarettes. Sugar bad!
Hate
legalized gambling. Gambling ruins
thousands of lives every day. It ruins the
life of the addicted gambler and the lives of everyone who has a connection to
the addict. Legalized gambling bad!
Hate plastic
surgery. Just watch any of the Bravo
“Housewives” TV shows and you will know…Plastic surgery bad!
Hate
booze. Booze is the gateway to
stupidity. Booze bad!
Hate
hate! Hate people that hate. Read the news, hate is the greatest cause of
misery in this world. Hate bad!
E-cigarettes
are not good for you, but they are better than the alternative and they help
many people kick a nasty habit. Leave them along. Hate the other stuff.
The preceding has been the opinion of
a cranky old man, and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.
Reading on through, I had the realization that everything you cite causes a mental high, which is the use of mind altering substances. So, everything is a gateway drug, and then it is a matter of personal choice to use the substance or not. Maybe excepting library paste.
ReplyDeleteI believe one on the list needs severe regulation--sugar. It is the most harmful and insidious gateway drug, in my opinion. We talk about youngsters on a sugar high, and the operative word there is "high." It is a high induced and condoned by parents, who instead should be reading labels and boycotting every product and manufacturer who sells them sugar for children. Having learned how to be high on sugar, children are open to any other form of "high", cigarettes, beer binges, alcohol, illegally obtained drugs.
i can't imagine they are healthy for the user. nicotine and chemicals going into your mouth and lungs has to be toxic no matter the source. however, i'd rather have someone use an e-cig in my presence than a real cigarette. because at least it spares me.
ReplyDeleteIf they help one quit smoking then go for it. I used to smoke too and this aid was not available. I succeeded, but I may have been easier with the e-cigarette.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
Personally I have no problem with them. My zero tolerance workplace has banned them, because they are bad? No...because they look too much like the real thing! Make sense? Not really...but then again, where I work we make trucks, not sense!!! Lol
ReplyDeleteI know a few people who have quit using e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes don't smell and I never know someone is smoking one unless I see them doing it so really they don't bother me. I hate the term gateway drug. There are plenty of people who smoke and do use other drugs.
ReplyDeleteCigarettes are the ultimate gateway drug although marijuana gets the wrap. I don't know it these devices help people quite or just enable people to smoke. Smoking will probably kill you, but so do many other things as you've pointed out. I've never smoked and for this I'm extremely grateful.
ReplyDeleteI bought the nicotine free kind and sucked it down to see what all the fuss was about. It took forever to finish, and made me feel sick. I don't care if other people smoke them. They produce a huge cloud!
ReplyDeleteMy addiction is carbs: bread, crackers, cookies, rolls...but in grade school I did love the library paste. Good thing they invented glue sticks, or I'd probably be eating a library paste sandwich right now. Kind of minty, it was.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog, Cranky. You are my cup of tea. With or without carbs.
I've never smoked. I don't use e-ciggies either. Yet at my place of employment, e-ciggies are banned - on the whim of HR (don't get me started on the term Human Resources!!!). It's all about fear - or another way to make money.
ReplyDelete:-)
Cheers
PM
Gosh, wish I had known about library paste in the second grade. I gobbled that stuff up--we even had contests. Sure enough I was owned by cigarettes for 15 years.
ReplyDeleteI think it might be a great tool for quitting but kids are starting out on them That can't be good.
I've never smoked, but I sort of understand how addictive smoking can be. A former co-worker who tried to quit smoking several times switched to e-cigarettes a few years ago. She explained to me that nicotine is a stimulant much like caffeine. And e-cigarettes are able to deliver this stimulant to you without the harmful tar from a real cigarette getting into your lungs.
ReplyDeleteSounded like a great solution to me.
Until I read about a guy here in Florida whose e-cigarette sort of exploded (?) and tore out part of his mouth.
So now I don't know what to think, except I'm just thankful that my cup of caffeine can't do anything like that to me.
I just Googled this. Apparently if charged incorrectly, especially if charged from the usb port of a laptop this can be an issue much like the very rare lithium battery problem with phones. Enough to make me glad I no longer use them.
DeleteI don't know anyone who has gone straight to the e-cigarette without smoking a regular cig. Most of the people I've known have used it as a smoking cessation tool. The bad thing, though, is most of them phrase it as, "I quit smoking." When you congratulate them and ask how they did it, they pull out this e-cigarette they're smoking all day. Sure, it's safer and better, but they don't seem to realize they haven't 100% quit smoking and they're supposed to take the next step away eventually, which is no nicotine at all!
ReplyDeleteAs a fat gambler, I am outraged that you are sending the e-cig hater mob after me with flaming torches! It's enough to drive me to drink, and make me consider plastic surgery to conceal my identity.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, library paste never crossed these lips. I think there was something about it NOT BEING FOOD that kept me from eating it.
So I'm probably not going to be popular but I am a smoker. I've tried to quit several times and am about to start a new attempt. However I think you are correct. It's more of a control issue for non smokers to hate the ecosystem than anything else. I'm not a fan of them but I own one so that I don't offend or upset anyone around me. It's my habit not theirs so I don't smoke around non smokers. If people really stopped to think about it everyone has addictions or bad habits. Even if it's blogging or watching tv. Judge not
ReplyDeletePersonal opinion as an ex smoker - using e-cigs isn't giving up - giving up is breaking the habit and you can't do that if you still 'smoke'. I found smoking was 99% habit and really only 1% addiction. Having said that, I didn't find it easy to break the habit and I still have moments when something triggers my brain and tells me I'm still a smoker 9fortunately it passes fairly quickly).
ReplyDeleteI think that if e-cigs keep you off the real thing then great, it's got to be better for you and those around you but at some point, if you really want to call yourself a true non smoker then you have to get your head around breaking the habit.
You shouldn't judge people for trying to do the right thing, smokers aren't stupid but they know smoking is stupid, although some may claim they enjoy it (and I get that!) smoking is a trap that it's very hard to find a way out of.
Once I'd stopped thinking of it as 'giving up' and started thinking of it as just stopping it made a lot more sense.
The only thing I've ever found that can help me to stay off of real cigarettes is an e-cig. It is a fantastic invention. Yes, nicotine still pumps in, but your lungs are spared all of that tarry crap. How can anyone not feel that's a good thing?
ReplyDeleteAs for anything the government says about smoking, I pay no attention. If the government were serious about tobacco, it would have been outlawed decades ago. They can't have their taxes AND give me a sermon.