Since the beginning of time, children by nature are inquisitive.
Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s was a long time ago now.
It wasn’t until I started high school aged 11 that I started experimenting with different things. Me and the group of friends I had all smoked cigarettes. We’d all put in a bit of our dinner money and one of the older children would go in the shop and by them, despite pictures all-round the school in an attempt to encourage people not to smoke. Looking back some friends parents let us smoke in there house and we could by a single cigarette for 5p from certain shops and cafes.
Then there was alcohol, my first experience was with Gin to which I was encouraged to drink the whole bottle and to this day I have never touched Gin since.
Then came solvent abuse, it was not the most pleasant thing bit we all tried it.
A year on and cannabis was readily available, in fact a few kids parents let us smoke it round their house.
When I finished school and went onto further education I was still smoking and drinking alcohol – just not Gin!
https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/nicotine–no-more-harmful-to-health-than-caffeine-.html
The point I’m trying to make is there is a growing movement trying to ban flavoured e-cigarettes because children are using them and although I’m not advocating for children to start vaping my point is what would you rather your child experiment with? Tobacco causes 78,000 deaths every year in the UK while alcohol caused nearly 9,000 deaths in 2020. There were 760 deaths in 2020 connected with different types of solvent abuse.
That is in excess of 91,000 deaths in one year in the UK alone.
Now let’s compare that to e-cigarettes/vaping?
How many deaths in 2020 were related to vaping flavours product?
Answer –Zero.
Another important fact to remember is adults thinking by telling their children they must not do something, the more inquisitive they’ll be.
In my opinion people who are anti-vape are pro-tobacco.
State-wide Flavoured E-Cigarette Bans Have Led to Increases in Young Adult Smoking
https://townhall.com/columnists/lindseystroud/2022/10/20/statewide-flavored-e-cigarette-bans-have-led-to-increases-in-young-adult-smoking-n2614807
Why deprive people the most successful tool to quit smoking as a knee-jerk reaction?
Children will return to smoking cigarettes.
NHS Smoke-free promote it as a smoking cessation tool and for good reason.
The habit of smoking is not just the burning of harmful tobacco, it’s more of a social thing and also people who have previously tried to quit tobacco products using conventional methods of Nicotine Replacement Therapy, i.e. patches, gum, lozenges etc. relapse when e-cigarettes provide the hand to mouth action, the smoke and no change in routine, just 95% safe overall.
China has just banned the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes but not for export. Bear in mind China are one of the largest cigarette manufacturers and nearly 50% of the population smoke tobacco. I wonder how much revenue that creates for their regime.
It’s the same with the tobacco lobby industry where it is not in their interest for you to quit smoking and even more appalling is big pharma doesn’t really want you to quit either. They want to sell their medicines. When you realise the size of the tobacco industry and big pharma, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a lot of money changes hands in either direction.
My first attempt at quitting smoking was trying lozenges but they tasted like licking an ashtray. I also tried patches that burned my skin, caused insomnia. I tried an inhaler alongside it but nothing worked.
Then I discovered e-cigarettes.
If you’re a smoker you’ll know there are certain times of the day which you look forward to smoking more than other times. This could be with a cup of tea in the morning or after a meal, with e-cigarettes you can continue with this routine instead of pacing up and down tearing your hair out dreaming about that cigarette.
The point I am making is a percentage of children will experiment with things they are underage for or illegal.
If e-cigarettes/disposable vapes were banned the same children are more likely to use tobacco products.
What is the legal age to smoke tobacco in the UK?
Teens ages 16 and 17 may smoke tobacco, but it is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18.
What is the legal age to consume alcohol?
Anyone under 18 is not allowed to buy alcohol or consume alcohol in a place other than a private house
It is legal for over 18s to buy beer, wine or cider for 16 and 17 year olds if they’re having a meal together in licensed premises, like a pub.
What is the legal age to Vape?
The legal age to buy vapes in the UK is 18 years old. The law which made it illegal to sell e-cigarettes or vape juice to anyone under 18 came into force on 1 October 2015.
Taking all this information, if you were to ban one of the above, which one would you choose?
It’s also worth noting that cannabis use is currently illegal and often used alongside tobacco to smoke.
Fantasy read and very well thought out