Could
it be because they don't yet get to impose the heavy taxes they do on
tobacco?
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BELLEVILLE, Ont./ Troy Media/ - Just mention
the phrase "electronic cigarettes" and politicians at every level seem to go
berserk. "Holy non-smokes!", they cry. "We can't allow something new and
unregulated to exist in the marketplace! People might just solve their own
problems without us!"
From its infancy in 2003, the market for
e-cigarettes has skyrocketed. It is now estimated to be a $3.5 billion dollar
business worldwide. As someone who hates being accosted by sidestream smoke from
burning tobacco sticks, I welcome this development. In fact, I recently spent
about 90 minutes in a "vape shop", meeting with several vaping entrepreneurs.
Even though two or three people were vaping nearby throughout the meeting, I
experienced no discomfort. All I noticed was a slight, pleasant, fruity aroma in
the air when I walked into the shop. Had people been consuming equivalent
amounts of tobacco sticks in that space, I wouldn't have been able to spend two
minutes there without starting to cough and gasp for air.
Indeed, scientific studies confirm that there
is virtually no risk to bystanders from second-hand vapour, unlike second-hand
tobacco smoke.
The vapers I met were former tobacco smokers
themselves. E-cigarettes had let them wean themselves off tobacco. Thousands
(perhaps millions) of people are doing the same. This was more news to gladden
my heart. I hate paying taxes to support the huge medical expenses caused by
tobacco-related cancers and chronic diseases - some $14 billion in Canada in
2012. It's not primarily the nicotine that harms smokers; it's the tar and other
chemical by-products from burnt tobacco.
Another pleasant surprise is that
e-cigarettes are actually cheaper than tobacco for vapers to get the same
nicotine dose. This may be because governments impose heavy taxes on tobacco
products (about $7.3 billion per year in Canada), but haven't yet geared up to
extract similar amounts from the nicotine addicts who have migrated to
vaporizers. But for the addicts themselves, it is great news. A disproportionate
number of smokers are concentrated in the poorer segments of society. If they
can save money by substituting vaping for smoking, then they'll have more money
for other things. And if vaping helps them kick the habit entirely, their
finances will improve significantly.
But despite all these clear advantages of the
vaping revolution, governments have dug in their heels, seemingly determined to
bring it to a screeching halt. Major cities including Vancouver and Calgary have
adopted bylaws discouraging vaping. New Brunswick has had legislation hindering
vaping since July, 2015. And Ontario has enacted discouraging legislation which
was originally supposed to be implemented on January 1, 2016 but has been
temporarily deferred.
Federally, the Standing Committee on Health
issued a report in March, 2015 recommending stringent regulation of
vaping.
Since 2009, Health Canada has taken the
position that e-cigarettes containing nicotine are illegal. But out on the
streets, Health Canada is simply being ignored. There's a brisk trade in vaping
supplies including nicotine.
Much of the new legislation might be found
unconstitutional if challenged in the courts. Nicotine addicts who still use
tobacco as a delivery method are suffering harm to their health that now appears
to be quite unnecessary. Any government that prevents them from accessing a
cost-effective harm-reduction product is probably infringing upon their Charter
right to security of the person. That was, after all, the heart of the argument
in the Insite safe drug injection case decided by the Supreme Court of Canada in
2011: individuals have a right to harm-reduction.
Unlike Insite, where the government had to
provide highly-regulated personnel to supervise addicts, smokers have been
switching to vaping of their own initiative. Frequently, the entrepreneurs who
guide them are empathetic fellow-travellers, despite being profit-seeking
businesses. Vapers are looking after their own well-being and promoting the
well-being of others into the bargain.
And the free market - much reviled among
nanny state politicos - is making it all possible.
Troy
Media columnist Karen Selick is a lawyer and commentator. Karen is included
in Troy Media's Unlimited
Access subscription
plan.
© 2015
Distributed by
Troy
Media
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