Control freaks
Saturday, October 24, 2020 at 11:25 As readers know, I'm not and never have been anti-vaping. Quite the reverse.
I may not be driven by the quasi religious zeal of the former smoker who, having switched to e-cigarettes, thinks all smokers should follow suit, but there aren't many non-smokers who have actively defended vaping on TV, radio and in print for as long as I have (ten years).
This is not an appeal for applause or recognition, btw. I realised years ago that vaping activists, and advocates, would rather spit in their own food than credit me, or Forest, for the time and effort we have put in supporting vaping and e-cigarettes.
In fact, I now find it quite amusing how our contribution is persistently overlooked.
A few weeks ago, for example, Forest was quoted by The Times rejecting calls for a new tax on e-liquids in Ireland. (Ours was the sole voice of opposition.)
Our firm dismissal of the idea was posted on social media where it was almost completely ignored by the vaping community.
That spoke volumes, I thought.
In contrast vaping activists have been quick to endorse a new paper that has just been translated into English.
I haven't read it and I'm not sure I want to because the title is 'New ways to control smoking'.
And people wonder why so many confirmed smokers look upon vaping advocates (and even e-cigarettes) as a threat to their habit!
Seriously, if you think the message 'New ways to control smoking' is a good way to entice more smokers to quit and switch to e-cigarettes or other reduced risk products, you're off your head.
This is not about 'control', it's about education and choice.
I would humbly suggest they read ‘Nicotine Wars: The fight for choice’ by Rob Lyons. It features an excellent (!) foreword by me.
They won’t, of course, because it was published by Forest but if there are any vaping activists out there who are broad-minded enough to be interested here’s the link.
See also ‘Has vaping peaked in the UK?‘ where I make a point about the negative impact of vaping being ‘owned’ by tobacco control.
Reader Comments (3)
Smokerphobics who vape are on the tobacco control side and will do anything to force smokers to quit and vape so they are a very real threat to our lives , health, and well being.
Why people cannot live and let live is beyond me.
Vapers ultimately will not win because they are turning away the very people they need to buy their product and stick up for it.
There is one reason and one reason alone why smokers vape and that it because they have been forced out of smoking through tax so it is right that their representative at Forest should stand against more price hikes, bans, and bullying of smokers who vape.
I suspect 20 years from now, people will be laughing at those weird plastic toy things people used to smoke because it was cheap but thanks to Government support of the black market, suddenly smoking becomes cheap again, and there is no shopkeeper to ask kids for ID before they buy it.
I always suspected tobacco control needed a new generation of child smoker to persecute in later life to ensure their funding and industry continues.
They cannot possibly be against child smokers when everything they do removes good protection from kids buying tobacco and instead drive it into the hands of criminals and underground to the unregulated black market.
Tobacco control knows they have a band of useful idiots in the born again vapers who they also know are such push overs they'll quit that too when told to.
I have nothing against vaping, however papers that adopt antismoking intolerance need to be educated about the peril they will ultimately bring to their own cause. Tobacco control is a cult or a cartel that profits from sowing dissension. Attack smokers and support papers until the papers are vulnerable and then attack that vice too. The health justification for attacks against both smokers and vapers is exaggerated. The crusade is moral and aesthetic. It is also based on a series of lies and exaggerations designed to suppress dissent. Vaping is fine but so is smoking.
This days everything is based on lies. Also it is based on splitting people on smaller groups and get them attack each other.