When will they ban electronic cigarettes?

With nicotine now classified as a drug, will the government crack down on electronic cigarettes as a drug delivery vehicle?  That would be a pity because, like it or not, some people just can’t quit smoking.  Shouldn’t the goal be damage control?  It’s not like millions of smokers are just going to quit overnight so unless the objective is to create a lucrative black market, the electronic cigarettes trade should remain un-regulated.

Electronic cigarettes are not perfectly safe because nicotine is a dangerous, highly addictive carcinogen, but they are better than smoking tobacco.  The smoke that comes from regular cigs is 400 degrees hot when it blasts into the smoker’s lungs.  Surely getting rid of that is an improvement, not to mention that cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide and a witch’s brew of toxic chemicals.  How could electronic cigarettes be worse than this?

If the government decides to make these things effectively illegal, it will be one of the dumbest things they have done since the invasion of Iraq.  Nothing seems to stop the government from doing the dumbest things it can dream up, unfortunately.  Plus, electronic cigarettes represent a real threat to the established tobacco industry which is still very powerful.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to kill this serious competitor.

Tobacco CEOs call their favorite congresspets and get the ball rolling.  Somebody puts pressure on the FDA.  Lobbyists on K-Street do battle in the trenches.  Before you know it, you’ve lost a little more of your freedom to choose a product that costs less and does less damage than their product.  That is how things work.  That, frankly, is why you can still buy liquor and regular cigarettes but you can’t buy marijuana.  (Will the editors allow this scandalous statement?)

Anyway, I really hope there is still some sense of decency and sanity in the halls of power because it would be a shame if this great product were to vanish.  Some people just can’t quit smoking, and we should try to limit the damage.

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