Missing woods for trees

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Missing woods for trees

Friday, 20 September 2019 | Pioneer

Missing woods for trees

Banning electronic cigarettes might send a message but will only drive usage underground

Decades of action by advocacy groups and the anti-tobacco lobby had finally made smoking uncool, to a degree at least, among younger people. This was a big change considering smoking was, for almost a century, one of the ultimate hallmarks of confidence for teenagers and a sign of having arrived. Films, brands and advertisements had reinforced that image till the time research didn’t link life-threatening diseases to a costly indulgence. Sustained campaigning might not have got many smokers to kick the butt but they looked for alternatives. And then vaping came along as an option. Born through the burgeoning marijuana industry in the US, it involves taking a liquid concentrate and “vapourising” it by heating it to extreme temperatures thanks to an electric arc. It is a cleaner way of inhaling active ingredients and the US tobacco industry, wary of losing customers to the burgeoning competition, quickly adopted vaping or electronic cigarettes as a method of consumption. But much like hookahs in India, where “flavoured” mixes made the habit popular among a younger audience, flavoured vapes became a hot-seller. For kids, smoking bubblegum flavoured e-cigarette concentrates and exchanging their capsules became the “new cool.” But then many experts claimed that vaping innocuous flavoured mixes could be a gateway to ultimate nicotine addiction. Vaping was also claimed to tax our lungs in much the same way. So banning e-cigarettes was, some argued, the need of the hour. Of course, nobody is considering that the stricture could also push more smokers to conventional tobacco. Besides, is the Government being truly altruistic, considering that it appears to be playing into the hands of the tobacco lobby? Banning e-cigarettes definitely makes it look more interested in protecting cigarette companies and raises questions if there is a vested interest involved. The ghoulish advisories in multiplexes and on cigarette packets look hypocritical too.

As for the target audience, the ban will have little impact. Rebellious teenagers will continue to smoke e-cigarettes. Going by past experiences, banning substances has no impact on usage. Psychotropic drugs are a strict no-no but go to any party with college students and you will find a plethora of substances, including LSD, being bandied about. The fact is that the Government has succumbed to the tobacco lobby again, which was fearful of losing its high-end customers who bought expensive cigarettes. After all, vaping is not something for those with limited purchasing power; only the rich can afford it. These are not the individuals who will be hurt by this ban which, therefore, will end up being pointless. Instead, the curbs will drive the market for concentrates and e-cigarettes underground, which will be dangerous. Therefore, regulation and taxation are the need of the hour. Most citizens are actually not interested in breaking the law and would have been happy to pay the taxes and smoke lower concentrations of nicotine in their liquids. This is also another example of India becoming a “nanny state” and “maximum Government, minimum governance.” Trotting out the Finance Minister to announce the ban when the economy is in the doldrums is just another sign that the Government is not taking up real matters seriously. Ingenuous Indians will find a way to work around it and others will make a living breaking it, much like the joke that prohibition was in Gujarat until it was relaxed.

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