Letters | Take it from a smoker: Hong Kong vaping ban will push more people to choose tobacco
- Young people who are curious to try smoking will just light a cigarette if vaping is prohibited, not to mention the smokers who are trying to quit
- Hong Kong government move will do little to benefit public health, but will probably fatten up the coffers
I would like to address the government’s decision to ban the import and sale of electronic cigarettes and vaping products.
While I agree that young people should not smoke, some already do, and some will try. Would parents rather they had the choice of either a very harmful, highly addictive cigarette that could cause cancer and many other illnesses, or an e-cigarette of which there is little to no proof of harm or addiction, or, if e-cigarettes are banned, no choice but a cigarette?
The minimum age for someone in Hong Kong to buy cigarettes legally is 18, but I see young people (even in school uniforms) smoking cigarettes or vaping on the streets every day. If you ban e-cigarettes, you are giving these young people (albeit, rightly or wrongly) no choice but to illegally buy and smoke cigarettes.
I have been a smoker for 35 years, and I have tried to quit a few times over the years using patches and gum. Neither have worked and, after a week or two, I have gone back to smoking cigarettes. For the last four months, I have been vaping and have lost the appetite for cigarettes.
Banning e-cigarettes and waiting for people to “exhaust their stocks and be forced to quit”, may be correct for a few, I am in no position to speak for other smokers/vapers, but from my experience and knowing others who vape, most will not quit but go back to buying cigarettes, which the government taxes heavily. Rather convenient for the Hong Kong coffers, it seems. It is certainly not a decision for our health.
From my experience and knowing others who vape, most will not quit but go back to buying cigarettes, which the government taxes heavily
May I suggest that you, the government, invoke the same laws on the buying of cigarettes to the buying of e-cigarettes, vapes and liquid, that is, proof of age. Tax it if you feel you’ll be losing too much money, I for one would rather pay a little extra just to have the same rights you afford to the smokers of Hong Kong.
Your responsibility is to the people of Hong Kong. Banning these products will, I feel, force many, many people to either try a cigarette for the first time instead of an e-cigarette, or force people who are trying to give up to go back to smoking cigarettes.
It is quite clear that the government does not trust the Hong Kong people to make decisions for themselves when it comes to their own health.
So is the government planning to ban the other things that it feels are bad for us? Will there in the near future be a list of foods and drinks that we can and cannot consume, which would lead to the threat of a fine and/or imprisonment if we don’t follow this decision?
Consumption of sugar in its various forms is one of the biggest killers in the world. When will the government be banning this? Adding e-cigarettes into a black market which also contains cocaine and heroin is ridiculous.
People are turning away from cigarettes because of their understanding of the health issues. The government is giving them nowhere to turn to, so, on the whole, people will continue to smoke and the Hong Kong coffers get fatter and fatter.
B.R. Smith, Lantau
