Every day it seems that yet another work place, city, county or other public place has decided to ban electronic cigarettes. They believe their actions are justified because of appearance, with some stating “electronic cigarettes are often mistaken for regular cigarettes; possibly leading tobacco cigarette smokers to assume incorrectly that they can smoke and may even light up their conventional cigarettes despite the ban on tobacco smoking.”
If that sounds like rules made up for a kindergarten playground, I’d have to say I agree. This ridiculous legislation outlaws a safer alternative that is used by many law-abiding citizens with no harm for second-hand smoke or any other threat for that matter. It could even force some people to return to smoking tobacco. Does this make any sense whatsoever?
Could it be that the federal, state and local tax revenue that is slowly being lost as the Big Tobacco market share falls is causing some legislators to panic? They seem to be doing whatever they can to preserve their massive cash flow that comes in from tobacco smoking, although it seems unconscionable that they would do such a thing in light of the fact that it kills so many of the citizens they are hired to protect.
For decades big tobacco companies lied about the risks of smoking – it took an incredible battle against these major corporations, as well as many courageous people, before it was determined that Big Tobacco engaged in decades of conspiracy and civil fraud.
Are they doing whatever they can to keep their sales of tobacco cigarettes from declining even further? Are legislators afraid of losing their cash cow?
Unfortunately, with so many of these companies continuing to lobby legislators, with obvious benefits to both sides, it doesn’t seem that either have the best interests of the people in mind.