Blowing Smoke
Vaping may have been seen as a way to quit smoking, but with a lot of push back even vapers could see their products go up in smoke.
You see them everywhere you go, don’t you? Vapers. At the corner of every street, on the bench of every bus stop and in the driver’s seat of every dodgy car or Skyline. They seem to be multiplying every week, and it looks like there is no sign of it slowing down. I mean why would it? Vaping gear seems to be sold in nearly every store now, whether it’s at a dairy, a servo with the Vype gear, or one of the many vape stores in town that grace every street. Many wonder why people get into this habit, but there are a lot of misconceptions about the dangers and why it is wrongly demonized in the media.Â
All the shops in Hamilton have the customers best interests in mind and are dead set on getting people to make the switch. Considering that the average price of living has increased by 1.5% since last year, people are trying to save as much money as possible by finding cheaper alternatives. The cheapest packet of cigarettes you can buy today is $26.90, a far cry from the $20 packs from 4 years ago. A cheap pod vape which lasts around the amount of a standard 20 pack, costs $10 from a local vape store. You could grab 3 of these which could last you a week! The money you save easily outweighs the amount you would spend if you got a couple of packs.Â
Recently in the media, reports of people dying from vaping have spurred up an angry mob-mentality of removing it from store shelves. The issue with this is that the media are not telling the full side of the story. Most of these deaths are caused by bootleg, illegally made THC cartridges which are highly poisonous. This isn’t about vaping being bad. This is about the market which is open to loopholes and that people aren’t being informed about the dangers of buying untrustworthy products from trusted vendors. Black market e-liquids and THC are a danger to the market and the idea of vaping being a safer alternative to smoking.Â
Vaping is being demonised by the general public, but cigarette smoking has been linked to cancers and diseases that claim a number of lives each year. It makes you think doesn’t it?
The news seems to have a thing with creating the idea that vaping is starting to get the youth into smoking and nicotine addiction. Whilst the fact that they are more on display in service stations and recently put in pharmacies, the number of teenagers using vapes in the long term is lower than you think. According to the NZ Health Promotion agency, 92% of teenagers have tried an e-cigarette at some point in their life, however only 11% of those teenagers have said they use them more than weekly. The correlation between teens getting into smoking from vaping doesn’t make sense. If that many teenagers are using e-cigarettes, then why is the number of people smoking the lowest it has been in years? If nearly 92% of teens vape, then according to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, 30.7% of those teens should start smoking within 6 months, thus raising the numbers of smokers. But why not? Restriction and exploration. When kids and teens grow up, they are shown a new world of things they are not allowed to do because of their age. When they reach the age that allows them to do these activities, they inevitably try them because of all the hype that has been brought up around them. Once they do try them, the majority will discover that it isn’t as interesting or as fun as it was made out to be and drop them. People don’t seem to understand, teenagers have a very short attention span, and if something doesn’t give them instant satisfaction, they will quickly lose interest.Â
Vaping isn’t a gateway to smoking as some make it out to be. Many of the regular users are trying to quit smoking and trying to change their lives for the better. I understand it is a long and hard journey. It is one that may take several attempts to be put into permanent motion, but there are people out there who have been through it and are wanting to help you. If you do want to try a vape and are not a smoker, go to a vape shop and ask for a no nicotine e-cigarette. I’m not endorsing it, but I do understand it is a curious thing that people do want to try out. Just be sensible with it okay?
