Avoiding the pitfalls from e-cigarette use seen in the US
Photo: Reuters
I refer to the article, “Devices to quit smoking become the devices teenagers can’t quit” (April 2).
The writer exposes an alarming trend in American society, and the use of e-cigarettes seems to have transcended its ostensible purpose of providing a safer alternative to combustible cigarettes. Sadly, a whole new generation of youth could end up being hooked to nicotine with unknown health risks.
On the other hand, research published in the New Zealand Medical Journal seems to suggest that e-cigarettes could be beneficial for use in cessation hospitals. The United Kingdom has gone a step further and has already implemented the use of e-cigarettes in its cessation clinics.
Where do we draw the line?
Although e-cigarettes are arguably safer alternatives, they do not eliminate the addiction to nicotine.
As long as a smoker keeps the nicotine monster alive in his system, the outlet means little. Whether they are cigarettes, nicotine patches or e-cigarettes — the addiction stays alive.
The efficacy of vaping would also dissipate the moment it is abused, similar to the situation that Singapore faced more than a decade ago when heroin addicts started abusing Subutex, a synthetic opiate which was dispensed by general practitioners.
Interestingly, nicotine withdrawal can be imperceptible. Smokers can live without cigarettes for almost eight hours every day when they sleep. Similarly, the mind also prepares the smoker to abstain during a family dinner, in a cinema, in a lecture hall or even while taking a long train ride.
What keeps smokers at their habit are then the “brainwashing” and messages they have been exposed to regularly, from cigarette ads, media to their peers.
These include the following: That smoking is enjoyable and makes you feel good; that it relieves stress; that it is habitual; that withdrawal is painful so smokers fear it and postpone quitting.
On the contrary, smoking makes you a slave, and your daily moments are spoilt because you are constantly on the lookout for a designated zone or “yellow box” to smoke.
The best way to break out of this slavery is by quitting immediately, which is very difficult and only for the brave, unless smokers completely understand the psychology of why they smoke.
Let’s equip smokers with an arsenal of aids and the support to quit smoking, including using e-cigarettes as a temporary measure for those who get them from a doctor and who commit to mandatory counselling, for example, with the provision to have this aid withdrawn after a given period.
All of us have a responsibility in making Singapore smoke-free and in saving countless lives that could otherwise fall prey to the scourge of smoking.
