(Last week, we asked readers this question: “Do you think flavored vaping products should be illegal?” Here are the responses we received.)
There is no reason flavored vaping products should be illegal. In a nation where tobacco in all forms – cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco, dip, chew, snuff, snus, etc. – is still 100% legal and available at every convenience store in every town (often in a variety of flavors), going after the product that “most experts agree is less harmful than smoking” seems outlandish and completely unnecessary.
And why go after flavors, specifically? I keep hearing the unfounded claim that vape companies are targeting kids by making their products taste good. What, so adults don’t like flavors? The war on flavors must end – children are not the only segment of the population that enjoys tastebud stimulation, I hate to break it to you. I’ve never seen an adult send a piece of apple pie or peach cobbler back to the kitchen because it had too much fruit flavor.
Ultimately, though, I just can’t get past the idea that actual tobacco, which the whole world has known causes cancer for the last 30-plus years, is still very legal and widely available in a plethora of forms, and all anyone wants to do now is get rid of e-cigs (even though these five recent deaths have not been directly attributed to using electronic cigarettes).
If you want to take away a personal freedom, why not start by banning flavored soda, easily the No. 1 contributor to the legitimate health crisis of obesity, which nobody seems to talk/care about anymore because e-cigs are an easier boogeyman.
Yes, let’s ban flavored e-cig cartridges, which you must be at least 18 to purchase, but let Burger King continue to sell 24-ounce cups of Surge and their 1,370-calorie Triple Stacker King, right next door to the gas station where you can go in and get a dozen packs of a cigarettes, a few tins of wintergreen dip, a bag of frosted donuts and a 30-pack of Bud Light.
JON BODELL
Concord
I like the way the question about “vaping” was phrased, as it begged the general question about freedom of choice vs. government regulation against undesirable behavior.
According to the evidence, vaping is detrimental to one’s health.
On the other hand, people should have the right to make bad choices about their personal well-being.
There are courses of action other than prohibiting sale of vaping materials. Those of us old enough may remember a very effective advertising campaign against smoking. There is another tool available to influence behavior. It’s called taxes.
Rather than prohibiting the sale of vaping materials, how about taxing the materials at a high rate, like cigarettes, which are taxed at $4.35 a pack in Connecticut and New York.
PHIL FUNK
Concord