Banning Flavoured E-Liquid.

I use a personal vaporizer, otherwise known as an electronic cigarette. The liquid I use in it can be acquired in a wide variety of flavours from tobacco reminiscent to one that taste like popular  candies. Hell, you can even get some that taste like your favorite cocktail. I personally prefer pipe and cigar flavours.

Now, here’s the thing…

The United States Government has been convinced that having flavours such as bubble gum or other candy flavours will entice children into using the product. This is a load of horse pucky. This is the same route they went down to ban analog cigarettes from being flavoured and why you can only get clove tobacco products as cigarillos now.

Here’s the reality…

1. The US Government doesn’t think that parents should be accountable for not controlling what their kids do, so they legislate the hell out of anything that should really be in the purview of the parent. If you don’t want your kids to vape or smoke, keep that stuff under lock and key in your home. Keep track of what your kids do. For the love of Mike, start being a parent.
2. As far as the kids getting their grubby little hands on the things on their own, that is something that can be controlled at the seller’s end. Every brick and mortar vape shop in my city requires that you be 18 (the legal age to buy cigarettes in this jurisdiction) to purchase any of the products that they sell. Most states have amended  existing laws or imposed new laws making this the standard requirement. This should be all the regulation needed as far as selling goes.
3. As any parent should know, if your kid wants to get their hands on something that is forbidden to them, they will get it. Cigarets, drugs, alcohol, you name it. If mom, dad, the government, church, or anyone says they shouldn’t do something, they most likely will at some point. It is not up to the government to take all temptation our of the way (they can’t). It is up to the parent to exercise what it means to be a parent and exact punishment for transgressions against what the parent said the child couldn’t do. It is time for parents to get back to parenting and stop looking to the government to step in and regulate the hell out of everything.

One final note: Vaping is not a harmless alternative to smoking. It can only be classified as less harmful. But if it helps people kick the habit of traditional smoking, it’s a good thing. And if used as a cessation product (stepping your nicotine down a little at a time) then it shouldn’t be regulated to death but endorsed. Some say it is easier to use than gums, patches, or pills. To remain quit of smoking is hard. I once quit for five years, it only took one drag to get me going again. I think if I would have had the option of puffing on a 0 nicotine alternative (herbal cigs don’t count, they are nasty), I would have remained quit.

Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons