Smokeless Tobacco Scare in Hong Kong

Since I relocated to Hong Kong, I have started smoking again. Not nearly as much as before though. That’s probably because when I first got here I smoked a bit too much and now I have a cough that won’t go away. It’s happened in the past whenever I smoke regularly. I guess my body wasn’t built to be a 1-2 pack a day smoker.

I decided not to take my electro cig with me when I came to Hong Kong because of the scare the government placed on the people regarding the penalties of using electronic cigarettes here. That was probably a mistake. Chances are they don’t even penalize those who just use them here IF they even found out I was using in the first place (which I doubt).

Now I feel regret and the first thing I’m going to do when I get back to the U.S. is to pick up my SmokeStik and some more cartridges. (I know I can probably find some here so I may do that as well).

Here are snippets of statements that the Hong Kong government is mentioning:

1) “[electronic cigarette] products also contain other substances that may be harmful to health.”

It probably does, but what about tobacco cigarettes which contains literally hundreds or thousands of distinct recognizable chemicals that are proven to be bad for consumption.

2) “the product affects smokers’ will to quit the habit”

What if it was marketed as a smoking alternative, would that be better?

3) “The users absorb high doses of nicotine, which go into the blood within seconds. The users feel like they are smoking tobacco”.

Yes, that’s the point, but it does NOT absorb and hit you like a regular cigarette, those who use it can usually testify to this. It’s still pretty good though. Maybe it’s just my SmokeStiks. I’m not sure how these other electronic cigs hold up.

4) “It has nothing to do with tobacco cessation.”

Sure it does, electronic cigarettes have NO “tobacco” what so ever. So if you smoke them and you don’t smoke regular TOBACCO cigarettes, you are essentially quitting tobacco cigarettes cold turkey.

Nobody is saying that using electronic cigarettes will eliminate your addiction to nicotine. Nobody is making that claim.

The World Health Organization states that there are no tests attesting to the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes as a way to quit smoking. Then DAMN-IT, fund some official tests!

The electronic cigarette isn’t going away anytime soon. That’s because people that use it who are addicted to regular cigarettes see the potential in these devices in improving their health and life.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.