It’s time for those annual New Year’s resolutions like losing weight, exercising more and quitting smoking.
There’s no shortage of stories online, on television and in the papers about the best or most convenient ways to quit smoking in the days surrounding the arrival of 2012. So far, it seems that electronic cigarettes are almost intentionally left out of most of these New Year’s resolution stories. However, that might change next year or at least in the near future.
While it would seem to make sense to include electronic cigarettes in the quit smoking stories, most of the health care professionals and organizations asked to comment are hesitant to offer the option.
The biggest obstacle to electronic cigarette acceptance from the hard core anti-smoking crowd is now the presence of nicotine since they can’t complain about the smell or odor. Even though nicotine levels can be varied and changed by preference in many brands.
It’s not too hard to understand the hesitancy when it comes to certain groups advocating electronic cigarettes as an option to quit smoking, most likely due to the act of mimicking cigarette smoking, instead of an unseen patch, chewing gum or other medication.
In an earlier blog post regarding the Great American Smoke Out, E Cig Werks noted that the American Cancer Society (ACS) online Guide to Quitting Smoking included electronic cigarettes as a viable option.
While the ACS does not recommend electronic cigarettes, they at least put them in the list of available options to reduce tobacco use. The ACS hotline is 1-800-227-2345 and the Quit for Life hotline is 1-866-784-8454.
One only has to note the anecdotal social media posts and comments to see that a good number of cigarette smokers have moved to electronic cigarettes and are enjoying the benefits like less tobacco, odor, nicotine and cost savings. While nicotine levels are certainly a health issue to consider, most reports suggest that electronic cigarettes have significantly fewer toxins than tobacco cigarettes.
Since electronic cigarettes are relatively new option at this point, it remains to be seen whether moving to electronic cigarettes will take smokers to the next step of quitting altogether. However, if less tobacco is really the goal, then electronic cigarettes should be a realistic option.
Two prominent national columns recently criticized the anti-smoking movement for opposing the use of electronic cigarettes to decrease tobacco use without any real evidence. John Stossel of FoxNews and John Tierney of the New York Times noted that the potential for significant reduction and outright quitting of smoking with electronic cigarettes merits stronger consideration instead of lockstep opposition.
So, will 2012 be the year that electronic cigarettes actually become a viable alternative to tobacco cigarettes, or possibly an accepted legitimate step toward quitting smoking? Or, will they continued to be opposed and/or ignored by those looking to reduce cigarette smoking and tobacco use?
Considering that the Centers for Disease Control and other sources have reported that electronic cigarettes use is quickly growing into the millions as they become increasingly accepted in the marketplace, it seems more likely that they will become part of New Year’s resolutions for years to come.