Warsaw Hosts Electronic Cigarette Information Session
A new phenomenon sweeping the United States has many people attempting to wean themselves off of standard tobacco cigarettes through the use of vapor-based electronic replacements, often referred to as e-cigs.
Many proponents of such devices showed up to Tuesday night’s town meeting in Warsaw to hear the information delivered by a panel of four individuals whose work has brought them face to face with the e-cigs’ rapid rise in popularity.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer served as the session’s moderator, and relayed questions written down by the audience to a panel that included Doug Hampton, a pharmacist at The Pill Box Pharmacy; Miranda Spitznagel, director of the Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Commission at the Indiana Department of Health; Araceli Grant, addiction therapist at Bowen Center; and Jon Hutton, assistant principal at Tippecanoe Valley High School.
The panel answered questions from the audience. A Powerpoint presentation was given about half-way through the meeting. The presentation detailed how electronic cigarettes and vapor pens are marketed to younger people through social media and other appealing entities like celebrities and luxury items.
It was explained that because of how new the electronic cigarette movement is, it is important that individuals understand what the product is and its potential effects on both users and the people around them. Thallamer echoed this sentiment, and stated, “This is new, we need to know more about it, and we certainly have the responsibility to limit its impact on our kids.”
Hutton explained that electronic cigarettes were treated equally to regular tobacco cigarettes on his school’s grounds, and that students using them were disciplined whether they were of legal age or not. He explained that even if the new products eliminate the inhalation of carcinogens, nicotine is still a gateway drug that could result in negative repercussions for its users down the road.
Grant reinforced Hutton’s point, pointing to the fact that 90 percent of adult cocaine users between the ages of 18 and 34 were cigarette smokers at some point in the past. Though it was made clear that nicotine can be very addictive in any form, Mayor Thallemer did state that, “There is certainly a difference between what is in smoke and what is in these vapors.”
Despite the apparent agreement on the fact that vapor substitutes serve as a slightly better alternative to actual smoke, the panel seemed to be in unison on the fact that the most ideal would be for individuals to avoid nicotine products all together. “We do know that they aren’t harmless,” stated Spitznagel on electronic alternatives to tobacco. Thallemer appeared to have similar feelings when he said, “One is a C-, the other is a D+. It is still a C and a D.”