No Quarter For The Nicotine Folk Devils

Source from:  VapingPost 09/23/2019

From Michigan to India, should tobacco harm reduction come at a criminal cost?

How can a government justify criminalizing people for using safer methods to use a legal recreational substance? This question is the centerpiece of all prohibitions against vaping as the global outrage about the behavior grows exponentially.

India, a country of millions of smokers, just banned e-cigarettes nationwide.

“The decision was made keeping in mind the impact that e-cigarettes have on the youth of today,” India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said in a press conference. Sitharaman cites the concerns that the country is seeing epidemic levels of youth vaping, despite the fact that vaping nicotine is considered safer by much of the public health communities in countries like the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

For one, India’s “epidemic” seems to overshadow a real public health crisis. India’s ban follows a structure that is similar to other countries and jurisdictions across the world. Hong Kong banned e-cigarettes while leaving traditional tobacco products available for purchase. Australia outlaws the use of liquid nicotine. Following this trend, India has only banned e-cigarettes and left traditional tobacco products virtually unadulterated.

World Health Organization data indicates that nearly 900,000 Indians die from ailments linked to traditional tobacco product use with very little suggesting that e-cigarettes are harmful to this specific population.

In light of the recent regulatory developments in the United States, public health regulators in New Delhi responded with what seems to be a knee jerk reaction to some.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, announced that he is directing his administration to finalize rules that ban flavored e-cigarette products all over the country. Naturally, this move is not as bold as banning the entire category; however, the parallels are plentiful. Michigan and New York were the first two states to issue emergency rules that declare vaping a public health crisis. In turn, the policy responses were unremorseful actions that ban sales, in some instances, regulate the possession, and virtually purges the market of once legal products, brands, and businesses.

While we have much to dive into in regards to the New York vaping ban, this analysis will continue to build on our in-depth coverage and analysis regarding Michigan’s flavor ban.  Enditem