E-cigarettes. Have you heard of them?
When I first saw the name, I thought: Wow! How does that work? Do I log onto their web site and have a smoke by sucking on my mouse?
It’s exotic, but not quite that exotic. A cigarette-sized white tube contains a battery and a mixture of nicotine, water and propylene glycol. Sucking on the thing releases a little cloud of vapor which you inhale into your lungs. No smoke, no mess. Just a nice clean nicotine “hit.” It even has a battery-powered glowing tip so it looks like a cigarette.
I guess you could even use them in restaurants, airplanes and other public places. There’s no smoke or even any smell around users of the things. But there is a problem. The FDA thinks it should regulate these things and run extensive tests to make sure the substances used in them are not toxic. Others think they should be outlawed because they dispense a highly addictive drug, nicotine.
Oh, my gosh! A highly addictive drug is being spread around the country. Wow, we can’t allow that! Why isn’t this covered under drug laws like all those other addictive drugs…you know…marijuana, cocaine, heroin, meth?
Um, well, you see, nicotine is a legal drug in this country…in cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and some people even chew the stuff. (barf)
The government and all those tobacco companies have known for about a hundred years or so that nicotine is highly addictive. And that tobacco smoke is nasty toxic stuff, causing all kinds of respiratory problems. Oh, yeah…lung cancer too. And yet, tobacco products are sold legally in all kinds of stores. But all those other drugs, some not nearly as toxic or addictive as tobacco, are illegal. You can go to jail for using them. In fact, almost half the people in our jails are there because they used an illegal drug.
If you really think about this logically and objectively, it will drive you mad. So don’t.
But I have to really laugh at the people who say we should ban these e-cigarettes because they contain a highly addictive substance. Can you spell cognitive dissonance?
Finally, I think I should warn you adventurous souls who always admired the Marlboro Man and thought he was Raleigh Kool, before you rush out Pall Mall and spend your Old Gold for these things. If the FDA has their way, you might end up locked up in a place where you Kent get out.
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Comments: 14
Never heard anything from them or got anything in the mail for 3 weeks BUT Friday there was another charge put on my account for 99.02.................ACK! Naturally no way to resolve over the week end but I blew my top over the phone and they finally FAXED a refund to my bank including the original 10.00! They said it was a computer glitch......yeah right!
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
I don't care if a person wants to snort Drano...it is not my business.
It's made the street price of drugs higher, which has made the mafia and street gangs very rich. The high prices force addicts to commit all manner of crimes to support their habit. It has done absolutely nothing to reduce availability.
My barber was busted a few years ago and spent some time in the slammer. He says that drugs will never be legalized because of the powerful influence of law enforcement. Legalization would put a lot of them out of a job.
And so it goes.