The popularity of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigs, has risen sharply in recent years despite growing health concerns and attempts to ban sales in certain areas of the country.
“I like them better than cigarettes because you’re inhaling vapor and not smoke,” Jake Duprey, a first year student at Sinclair Community College said.
According to the products’ creators, e-cigs are a form of nicotine therapy that helps smokers to quit without experiencing the stress of nicotine withdrawal.
They still contain a small amount of nicotine that is mixed with flavors and other chemicals. The devices work by heating the liquid cartridge which eventually turns the mixture into an inhalable vapor. The battery-powered devices let users inhale nicotine-infused vapors, which don’t contain the tar and carbon monoxide found in tobacco smoke.
“I smoked cigarettes for over five years,” Duprey said. “With the e-cigs, I still get nicotine, but I think it’s better than inhaling cigarette smoke.”
In a study released last year by Wells Fargo, sales of e-cigs have gone from virtually nothing to $1.7 billion in annual sales in just over five years.
According to the study, sales could hit $10 billion by 2017 — still a small chunk of the overall $100 billion tobacco industry, but with triple-digit growth rates still in its future, e-cigs have the potential to eventually rival tobacco sales.
As recently as March, however, several bills have been written to regulate the e-cig market, which up until recently, has operated relatively free from government regulation.
Part of the recent pressure from lawmakers and health activists is due to controversy surrounding the sale of e-cigs to minors.
A report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2013 stated 1.78 million teens nationwide still in middle school or high school had tried e-cigs in 2012.
Currently, individual states decide laws regarding the sales of e-cigs. In Ohio, the sale of any nicotine related product is banned to minors. As recently as March 25, however, Florida State Representative Ronald Renuart said in a press release that a bill has begun moving through the House of Representatives that would “make it illegal to sell an e-cigarette or similar nicotine based vaporized products to a minor.”
Sinclair Nursing student Alissa Roberts said it was comforting to know her teenage son can’t legally by e-cigs. “I’ve heard stories from friends about how e-cigs made it easier for them to cut back smoking,” she said. “But I still think it’s just a substitution. People won’t be really healthy until they stop using nicotine all together.”
Roberts was a smoker for over 10 years, but with the help of other nicotine therapies like Nicorette Gum, she said she was finally able to wean herself off of nicotine entirely.
“If people like to do it, that’s fine with me, but I don’t think it’s smart to think of them as being something so much healthier than cigarettes,” she said.
Pamela Evans, a Digital Design major, said she thinks e-cigs haven’t been around long enough to know for sure if they’re completely safe.
“Sixty years ago people still thought cigarettes were harmless … I just don’t trust [e-cigs],” she said. “I know they don’t have the smell of cigarettes, but I still don’t like when I see people doing it inside, especially here on campus or in classes. It’s still distracting.”
Evans said she regulalry sees students on campus using e-cigs, who claim the tobacco-free products aren’t the same as cigarettes.
However, according to the Sinclair Police Department, the same rules that apply to regular cigarettes also apply to the use of e-cigs. Currently, smokers on campus are required to light up in various designated areas, within 10 feet of the ashtrays and 25 feet away from any doors.
Alex Parker, a Business major, agrees with Evans, adding that e-cigs shouldn’t be allowed inside. “Especially in class,” he said. “That’s been a recent pet-peeve of mine.”
Parker still uses e-cigs himself, and agrees with Evans that it’s too soon to know for sure whether e-cigs are a healthy alternative to cigarettes.
“They just haven’t been around long enough,” he said. “I still use them though. I’d rather take my chances and just trust that they’re not as bad for me as cigarettes. Like all that stuff, it’s a lifestyle choice. I’m not hurting anybody, I don’t see anything wrong with it.”