Legalize and Unregulate E-Cigs and Cigarettes

Survey results over the past decade have indicated that the “use of electronic cigarettes by American teenagers continues to rise, even as their use of conventional cigarettes continues to fall”. At the same time, critics of electronic cigarettes have called for greater regulation of the e-cigs industry to address this trend and supplement current anti-tobacco consumption efforts. However, these opponents fail to realize that there is no evidence that demonstrates e-cigs are a “gateway to smoking”. In fact, a recent review in the journal Addiction, found that the “Regular use of [e-cigarettes] by non-smokers is rare, and no migration from [e-cigarettes] to smoking has been documented.” This evidence supports the statements that “lighter” drugs tend to rarely lead to the use of harder drugs, and in the case of e-cigs; they hardly lead to increased cigarette use.

In regards to e-cigarettes, the “National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), last year put…past-month e-cigarette use among all high school students at 4.5 percent.” More so, “daily smoking is also less common than ever before. “6.7 percent of high school seniors reported daily smoking use, down from 26.9 percent in 1975, when the study started, and 12.3 percent in 2007, when e-cigarettes were first marketed in the United States.”

Furthermore, e-cigs help teenagers and young smokers quit as they are able to smoke e-cigs rather than the normal and more deadly types of cigarettes. According to a study from Monitoring the Future, “Among the 12th-graders who…smoked a cigarette…17.5 percent…used only cigarettes in the previous month, 16.7 percent…used only e-cigarettes, 21.5 percent…used both, and 44.3 percent…used neither.” Indeed, this demonstrates that although e-cig use is rising, they’re helping teenagers reduce cigarette consumption and ultimately negate the harmful effects of smoking.

Beyond the scientific evidence behind e-cigs, we need to morally oppose any government infringement upon an individual’s rights to determine what goes into their body. If individuals decide to consume e-cigs or cigarettes, then they have made the decision for themselves.

Additionally, if e-cig and cigarette use negatively impacts the health of others, then those victims can rightfully sue the cigarette smokers for purposely violating their individual rights. That solution would certainly create long term declines in smoking rather than foolish government smoking regulations that would serve only to drive cigarette sales and use underground and encourage the use of harder drugs.