(KCPW News) Flavored e-cigarettes and other nicotine products aimed at ex-smokers are the target of State Representative Paul Ray, who’s trying to ban them to protect children from getting their hands on them. But two local ex-smokers say the products have changed their lives – and the lives of their children– for the better. Jacinda Ross of West Jordan and Aaron Frazier of West Valley City are members of CASAA, the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association. KCPW’s Jeff Robinson asked them both what e-cigarettes have done for them.
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11 Comments
There is no evidence that children will be attracted to E cigarettes. Even if they were e cigs are still far better than getting hooked on tobacco. State Representative Paul Ray seems more interested in protecting the drug companies and their ineffective smoking cessation products.
The hundreds of thousands of people who use E cigarettes know they an effective way to quit tobacco. The ECF E cigarette forum by itself has over forty thousand members most of whom have drastically cut down or quit smoking. That would make tens of thousands who quit and it would be unrealistic to think that a majority or even large percentage of those who quit are members. We really need a more realistic and comprehensive study.
Anyway for those who want to quit this is good place for information and support.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-forum/
In the real world.
Deaths related to smoking 400,000 and up.
Deaths from electronic cigarettes 0. That’s right zero.
No one including the FDA has found anything in quantities that harm us.
The vapor from electronic cigarettes dissipates almost immediately. It does not linger in the air like smoke
Thank you for taking the time to give these two a chance to support e-cigarettes. I started “vaping” the same day as Aaron Frazier and have not picked up a cigarette since that day. This after smoking 33 years and trying every method out there to quit.
Vaping SAVES LIVES!
Save one you love! http://vapor4life.go2jump.org/aff_c?offer_id=2&aff_id=1005
Kudos to Jeff Robinson for conducting this interview in such a professional manner. We need more media folks like you, Jeff.
May I add my story. Smoked for 45 years. It would be easier to name the products and methods that I did NOT try than to list all the ones that I did. Each time, when treatment ended, relapse began. When I found e-cigarettes it was quite literally the answer to a prayer.
I did not want to smoke, but needed nicotine to maintain normal mood and cognitive funciton. It’s impossible to be a good employee when you can’t remember anything and keep making mistakes. I tried extended use of patches but devloped skin allergies. Niotine gum and lozenges didn’t replace enough nicotine to keep my symptoms at bay. E-cigarettes allow me to obtain the nicotine I need in a much safer way. My health has improved and I have been smoke-free since March 27, 2009.
Thank you,Mr.Robinson, for conducting an honest and open interview. I,too,wish more of the media were as professional as you.
I smoked for over 40 years and ecigs have been a miracle for me. Almost 2 years without a combustible cigarette! For committed smokers,these products should be encouraged and supported by all who really care about Public Health. I simply do not understand the knee jerk reaction to flavors in ecigs. Alcohol products have fruit and and many other flavors. Over the counter childrens\ medicines and vitamins are flavored. Just as parents need to keep those out of the reach of children so,too, do they need to keep ecigs out of the reach of children. I wish Mr.Ray would open his mind and really listen to ecig consumers.
smoked 2 packs a day for 50 years… got lung cancer, have severe emphesema… would STILL be smoking if it weren’t for e-cigarettes… they are saving my life. No nicotine needed, just the programmed act of smoking is the addiction. And, yes, I tried everything, accupuncture, hypnosis, chantrix all of it. It took getting cancer and then e-cigarettes to stay off the nasty weed.
I find it amazing how many want to “save the children” from ecigarettes and yet they leave tobacco cigarettes alone. I guess they find it OK for kids to have something even more deadly. It is easier, according to my reading, for kids to get tobacco and alcohol and yet nothing is done on those fronts. Kinda makes you wonder how they really feel about kids……
This trumped up reason has NEVER been proven! NEVER! You need ID to purchase ecigarettes ANYWHERE! Online, at a kiosk, or in a convenience store. Don’t these people live in the real world? Or are they trying to protect tobacco companies profits as well as the failed pharmaceutical industry NRT products?
Along comes a product that has helped thousands get off a deadly product (cigarettes) and so many ill informed people in power positions try to send us back to smoking. They feel better knowing we are smoking rather than using a product that eliminates over 4000 of the chemicals found in cigarettes. Health destroying chemicals that cause cancer and other ailments. We find something that finally has worked for us and they try to take away what we have gained.
Sorry for my rant but ignorance just makes me MAD! The evidence is right in front of their eyes if they take the time to look and THINK! Thousands of people! All with similar stories to tell. And the number continues to grow.
Universities have studied ecigarettes and said that they are LESS harmful than cigarettes. Doctors support their use. Why is it so hard for these people to see this????
43 year, 2-3 pack a day smoker here before I found E Cigarettes 20 months ago. From the first puff on my PV (personal vaporizer, another name for an E Cig) I reduced my cigarette consumption to a half dozen a day. I quickly found that I really like the various flavors much more than tobacco flavors.
After 6 months I still was smoking those cigarettes and at that time I wanted to be done with them completely and I found Swedish snus which as the other alkaloids not provided in PV liquid. Over the last year I’ve not had one drag on a cigarette using 4-5 portions of snus and occasionally my PV with extremely low nicotine content.
This was an excellent interview and tells the truth, these smokeless products can by a health benefit for the country if government will just let them be.
Thank you for letting a couple of vapers tell the story that thousands of us have experienced, in one form or another. It is rare indeed to have our side of the story aired. This doesn’t happen often.
My story is so much the same as other vapors I know. I smoked 42 years. I tried all the method to quit, lozenges, gum, patches (which also triggered allergic reaction), hypnotherapy, accupuncture, anti-depressants, ect. I have been vaping for 7 months now. I am so much healtier now then when I was a smoker. My doctor and my pulmonologist are both astounded by my huge improvement in health. Not one trip to the docs for sinusitus, colds, or flu this winter, unusual for me. At 69 years old, I can dance again!
I am not tempted to go back to tobacco when I am around smokers. I vape my nicotine, while avoiding the tat, carbon, arsenic, and 70 other carcinogens found in burning of tobacco.
I am not worried that children will start vaping. I smoke french vanilla or mocha cappuccino all day. I found that my addiction lies with nicotine, not the flavor of tobacco. Vaping is too labor intensive for kids. It is so much easier to just pull out a cig and light it. E-cigs require maintenance. Atomizers need to be cleaned, carts need to be refilled, cleaned, or repacked, batteries need recharging. I can’t get teenagers to clean their rooms, let alone take on the extra work of maintaining e-cigs.
I know of no one who wants to get someone hooked on an addictive sustance. They should not be sold to minors. just like their counterparts, tobacco cigs. These are not for non-smoking adults either.
Banning e-cigs will create a black market that you will force many seniors to enter. I don’t want to be forced into choosing to either break the law or going back to tobacco to get nicotine.
What are you going to do to use older folks on fixed incomes? Make us go back to burning tobacco with the extra 79 carcinogens and 4000 plus compounds released that accompany the burning of tobacco? You want to force us into providing secondhand smoke to our friends and family? Or will you please arrest us and provide the medical care we seniors require? I have bad teeth and my eyes are not so good anymore.
Are e-cigs safe? This is not the question that one should be asking. Are they safer than emoking tobacco cigs? YES!
I just want to say what an absolute thrill and pleasure it was to be able to speak the truth and discuss the positive aspects of vaping with KCPW. Jeff Roberts was a total professional and handled the interview with an open mind and a very informed manner. This is very rare now days with the influence of Big Tobacco and Big Pharma. There was so much more we could have said if we had more time but believe the point was made with all the responses thus far. KCPW even stated they had not seen this type of responses on any other article so it’s obvious the passion that we feel for smoke-free alternatives.
I am more proud than ever to be a UTE! Please join the Utah vaping community, check out our Facebook group Utah Electronic Vapers and let’s join forces to tell the REAL truth – not the lies that the FDA and our Government try and make everyone believe.