Some interesting e-cigarette-forum polls

[Vocalek]

We have some interesting polls in this forum that provide us with data that could refute some of what those who are just conjecturing say about the electronic cigarette. They are scattered across many sub-forums, so I thought I would list the links in one spot.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/quitting/6470-e-cig-success-rate.html

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussion/50594-update-analogs-vs-vaping-poll.html

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussion/45062-how-long-have-you-been-using-electronic-cigarette.html closed 225 responses

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussion/50464-poll-how-long-have-you-been-vaping.html

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/campaigning-discussions/42778-myth-e-cigarettes-aimed-non-smokers.html

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/nicotine/48862-does-nicotine-abstinence-screw-up-your-life-4.html

NOTE: These are not "statistically valid" surveys, but they do give us a general idea of the trends.

 

[Vocalek]

I would like to see us get to at least 100 responses on this poll.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...nicotine-abstinence-screw-up-your-life-4.html

Right now, it is telling us that only 15% of smokers experience no quality-of-life issues slamming them back when they attempt to become totally abstinent from nicotine, and that 85% struggle with such issues as being able to get along with others and performing their job duties accurately when they are "being good" and not using any type of nicotine.

With only 64 responses to the poll, that percentage could be correct, or it could be way, way off. Anyone else want to go answer?

 

[jj2]

I'm sure I took some of them but can't remember which ones.

 

[Pyrolord]

I just went through and took them all. Thanks for posting those links. It's really interesting to see what the trends are with ecigs.

 

[Slickstick]

excellent forum! and you can always come back and add more!

 

[Mac]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/health-safety-e-smoking/31195-did-your-lungs-clear-up.html

Here is one you missed. It is a very good read. Alot of wonderful stories in this one.

 

[Vocalek]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/health-safety-e-smoking/31195-did-your-lungs-clear-up.html

Here is one you missed. It is a very good read. Alot of wonderful stories in this one.

Yes! Thanks! Maybe I will get to meet you in March at the Virginia vape-In.

 

[pianoguy]

Great thread!

 

[ladyraj]

Hi VocaleK, another great thread with interesting poll results...Thank You for gathering them. But as you know, I have an issue with the portrayal of e-cig/PV/smoking alternative users as nicotine dependent individuals who are self medicating or want the "benefits" from nicotine. I do not dispute the health benefits, rather, my issue is one of public perception.

The public has been conditioned for years to believe that nicotine is the addictive substance that keep tobacco users hooked on products that are harmful to individuals that use them and others around them. Nicotine addicts are percieved as unreliable based on the cognitive chemical dependency theory and thus are in "denial". Nicotine has been equated with ....... and ...... with ease of dependence, but rated higher in psychological addictive potential than all other drugs. Even worse, the association of having a mental illness and self-medicating has been touted at approximately the 70% rate for nicotine users. For perspective that's over twice the normal rate in a given population.

Thus, I shudder everytime I read the psychological variables associated with the use of our favorite substance. Again, I'm not debating the benefits of nicotine, but I fear we are painting ourselves in the corner with the implication that we are not "OK" or our best with out using. If we are in need of filling deficits, we admit deficits, and project our stance as one of the weaker in society. How can that be good for the average PV user and the campaign to keep this product alive? What about the individual PV user who is fortunate or blessed to not suffer from these symptoms? How are they represented or portrayed?

Perhaps the values I'm reading on these polls are slanted because the more honest or vocal individuals are the people answering these queries selectively. Interestingly, the query of http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...nicotine-abstinence-screw-up-your-life-4.html is problematic in that the choices given between "no, nothing major" as a starting point actually results in the interpretation that all the other options are, by definition, a MAJOR problem. Further, this link http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/health-safety-e-smoking/31195-did-your-lungs-clear-up.html I couldn't answer at all because I had no lung problems or coughing when smoking so had no difference when vaping.

But then again, what do I know...I'm just a nicotine fiend looking for my next fix...ahhhh! all better now!

 

[Vocalek]

I too, have a problem with being labeled an addict. If I am taking care of myself, making myself better able to deal with my responsibilities, that is not "addictive behavior."

Say that you have sprained your ankle. It hurts, and it is swollen. If you take some ibuprophen to deal with that reality, does that make you an addict?

The problem with public perception, as I see it, is that once the Surgeon General said "more addictive than ......", people began equating use of nicotine with the same set of circumstances as getting drunk, shooting up ......, or snorting ........ The assumption is that we use this "drug" to escape from reality, that we use it to "get high".

Even the medical community has bought into this scenario. Witness the fact that Chantix was designed to block dopamine receptors so that when you use nicotine, you will get no pleasure from it. Of course, they did not allow people with depression into their clinical trials. Thus, when the product became available and doctors did prescribe it for those with depression, the result for those people was "anhedonia" -- the total inability to experience pleasure from any source whatsoever.

I believe that both the medical community and the public needs to be made aware that many of us have excellent reasons for using nicotine, and that our use of nicotine actually benefits society. With nicotine, I can perform my job duties more accurately and quickly. Thus I don't become a burden on society. With nicotine, I can drive my car without causing accidents.

I believe that I have a right to take care of myself, especially now that I am not endangering anyone else. I believe that I should have the right to use the natural medicine, nicotine, in place of pharmaceutical products that have some really awful side-effects.

As far as the PV user who is fortunate enough to be able to function perfectly normally with no nicotine, I have no answer for you. If nicotine isn't helpful to you in any way, what arguments would you use to convince society that you should have a right to vape that would outweigh their accusations that "it looks like smoking" and therefore you might lead their children astray?

 

[ladyraj]

As far as the nicotine goes, I simply enjoy using it, and it does seem to help me to focus on problematic situations with a bit more clarity, but...I have used nicotine for 36 years and therefore can hardly recall when I wasn't using it.

Let me be very clear...I have not declared nicotine to be an addictive substance, the popular media and other groups have declared this to be true. As a matter of fact...I disagree with the concept. The word addiction seems to cover everything now-a-days.

As far as excellent reasons for using nicotine...good luck with that one. There was an era when tobacco was viewed as a cure all, followed by ....... (factoid: was in Coca-Cola prior to caffiene), morphine and it's spinoffs, as well as methamphetamine...but no longer. This is the era of vast ignorance surrounding truth about compounds, their effects, and the lack of freedom to choose WHAT you're allowed to put in your body.

I shouldn't have to convince anyone how to care for their children, nor would I tell an adult what they can, or can't do. As far as looking like smoking, the point is twisted logic...what is the point of not allowing something simply because it looks like something else? If one buys into that piece of madness it exists in your head, I'm not buying into it.

Nicotine usage is an individual adult choice (by law for tobacco) that people enjoy and provides benefits/side effects to those who choose to use it. To date buying and using products containing nicotine is still legal.

 

[Vocalek]

The scary thought is that FDA will get their hands on this product and want to give us very, very limited amounts of nicotine. That would make me sick. And I am not speaking metaphorically.

 

[ladyraj]

VocaleK, I must confess that FDA control of intake is troubling...as well as the probability the group will ban my current favorite flavors (Red Bull and Butterscotch). Remove both features and I just may end up in the pit of despair....them sue for psychological harm and dual-diagnosis disability.

If I am labeled an addict via nicotine....that's my first diagnosis
Add depression, anxiety, and a host of other maladies....that's the 2nd diagnosis.
Thus I have just fulfilled the criteria for disability via the SS Admin's criteria

I'm waiting and advising all to file paperwork if the FDA takes our PVs away!

 

[Vocalek]

Works for me!

 

[Mac]

Hi VocaleK, another great thread with interesting poll results...Thank You for gathering them. But as you know, I have an issue with the portrayal of e-cig/PV/smoking alternative users as nicotine dependent individuals who are self medicating or want the "benefits" from nicotine. I do not dispute the health benefits, rather, my issue is one of public perception.

The public has been conditioned for years to believe that nicotine is the addictive substance that keep tobacco users hooked on products that are harmful to individuals that use them and others around them. Nicotine addicts are percieved as unreliable based on the cognitive chemical dependency theory and thus are in "denial". Nicotine has been equated with ....... and ...... with ease of dependence, but rated higher in psychological addictive potential than all other drugs. Even worse, the association of having a mental illness and self-medicating has been touted at approximately the 70% rate for nicotine users. For perspective that's over twice the normal rate in a given population.

Thus, I shudder everytime I read the psychological variables associated with the use of our favorite substance. Again, I'm not debating the benefits of nicotine, but I fear we are painting ourselves in the corner with the implication that we are not "OK" or our best with out using. If we are in need of filling deficits, we admit deficits, and project our stance as one of the weaker in society. How can that be good for the average PV user and the campaign to keep this product alive? What about the individual PV user who is fortunate or blessed to not suffer from these symptoms? How are they represented or portrayed?

Perhaps the values I'm reading on these polls are slanted because the more honest or vocal individuals are the people answering these queries selectively. Interestingly, the query of http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...nicotine-abstinence-screw-up-your-life-4.html is problematic in that the choices given between "no, nothing major" as a starting point actually results in the interpretation that all the other options are, by definition, a MAJOR problem. Further, this link http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/health-safety-e-smoking/31195-did-your-lungs-clear-up.html I couldn't answer at all because I had no lung problems or coughing when smoking so had no difference when vaping.

But then again, what do I know...I'm just a nicotine fiend looking for my next fix...ahhhh! all better now!

You know when I made that poll it never even occured to me that there would be serious long term smokers who didn't feel any effects from constantly putting tar in their lungs. Of course in retrospect it makes perfect sense. Although I would venture to say that as a tobacco smoker who put tar in your lungs for years and didn't feel any negative effects from it you would be a minority. I think you are the first person I have ever heard say this and I talk to dozens of smokers daily. (sorry I didn't make an option for you)

 

[Mac]

Yes! Thanks! Maybe I will get to meet you in March at the Virginia Vape-In.

Maybe so! Can you give me the where and when on that one?

 

[Vocalek]

Maybe so! Can you give me the where and when on that one?

Yes! Fredricksburg, VA The date is the weekend of March 13, 2010. QueenInNC has made arrangements for a block of hotel rooms at a discount.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/us-e-smokers/49717-reservations-east-coast-meet-up.html

I live 90 minutes north of there, so I plan to just drive down.