Is there no end to the stupidity the Government can commit in the name of “protecting the children”? It’s bad enough that we have to become the world’s laughing stock with attempts to filter the internet, but now technology that helps smokers kick the habit without harming non-smokers is outlawed because it might seem cool to kids.While the original News.com.au article focuses on the fact that sites like ebay have been selling e-cigarettes online, in my opinion the bigger issue is that they’re outlawed in Australia at all. After all, they only produce vapour (not acrid smoke), don’t actually burn anything so they’re a lot healthier for smokers (although smoking nicotine vapour still isn’t good for you), and come with a price tag that should keep them out of hands of most young people today.
So why are they outlawed? Well, considering News quoted Health Minister Nicola Roxon as saying, “This looks like another insidious, manipulative attempt to hook people on smoking,” before adding “I’d be very concerned about any attempts to promote smoking, especially to young people,” I’m going to say that it’s probably because this Government is stupid.
As a vehement non-smoker, I can honestly say that I would rather smell a slightly pungent vapour than burning tobacco smoke. If they were really serious about protecting the kids from the evils of nicotine, then smoking in public would be outlawed as a prelude to banning all tobacco products. Of course, that will never happen, so this latest attempt to kill a technology that actually benefits both smokers and non-smokers is ignorant at best and arrogant at worst, especially with the reasons given by the minister.
MRS man
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 1:44 PMhohoho
Ecigs in Aus
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 5:30 PMIt’s obvious both political parties in Australia are addicted to the money that cigarettes supply them as much as a smoker is addicted to nicotine. They would struggle to live without it without some help. There have been reports in the news that the Liberal Party has recently taken some large party “donations” from big tobacco companies, so voting them in to teach the government a lesson is not THE answer. While the Labour party have been putting so much money into majorily ineffective anti-cigarette and quit advertising but have failed in terms of endorsing harm minimisation. Tobacco kills more people than any thing else, so what are they waiting for?
And who can represent you when it seems your vote doesn’t count on this issue?
Well there’s hope as Getup Australia have a page where you can vote for them to campaign on your behalf for fair legislation on ecigs @ http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-campaign-ideas/suggestions/1787693-e-cigarettes-getting-addicts-of-the-smokes-and-q?ref=title
debbie belknap-lane
Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 4:41 AMA smoker can’t win for losing.The government and non-smokers complain of the cost to the medical system.We as smokers need to stand up for our rights to use anything that could help us quit.Don’t they realize all the chemicals in a cigarette is what is hurting us.If these e-cigarettes only have nicotine that isn’t smoke going into our system they need to wake up and see the benefits.If a person isn’t sucking down smoke into their lungs than duh the lung will function better.They talk about the impact they have on kids…well hello government have you ever thought about the impact you have by just giving kids a study allowance that goes on booze,smokes and drugs.Anything but helping to pay their way through school.You want to save money leave us alone and look in your own closet.Smokers do have RIGHTS and it is about time we do something about it.
Krystal
Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 1:24 AMI’m a little confused. E-cigarettes are banned but Nicorette are allowed to sell Nicotine Inhalers. Is it the “E” bit that scares them so….or the little red light at the end?
If I wanted to OD on nicotine I would get a prescription for patches @ $5.00 and just stick the whole pack on. Of course, patches will only ever help me quit if I roll them up and smoke them. :)
gn0sis
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 2:01 PMOld post but it deserves to be kept alive. Ive been “vaping” now for almost a month and I haven’t had an analogue cigarette since picking it up. My chest used to be in horrible shape, constantly coughing up and gagging, feeling sick after every drag. After less than a week my cough was gone and i was able to exercise twice as long without getting shortness of breath.
I am what my pressured peers would call a conspiracy theorist. But that is an engineered term invented to stop people thinking for fear of ridicule. Yes the government is in bed with big tobacco and more importantly big pharma (for when the symptoms start to kick in). they make billions in taxes and profit off death because in the end these elite scum woulx rather we kill ourselves off to save them the effort. Conspiracy yes, theory no. Stop being so apologetic and caring what people think of you. The government doesnt care about you regardlessof how they pose as our mummy and daddy.
You can still get your nicotine eliquid from overseas (except qld) and the devices are for sale all ovet the web via australian retailers. Seeing as how qld had banned the import other states may soon follow suit so stock up on juice while you can. If they ban it outright, promise yourself you will NOT go back to analogues, or theyve won 100%.
Gnosis
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 2:10 PMOne more thing on the nicotine / overdose topic. I started with 20mg juice, and have since lowered it to around 7mg. Any more and it is difficult to inhale. I feel a strong peppery tingling feeling in my mouth when ive had too much, it really is very easy to tell where your limit is. Vapor delivers nicotine differently to smoke, so a 7mg analogue is not the same as 7mg juice. The nicotine is measured by the ml, so 7mg is 7mg of nicotine per ml of liquid. I vape about 1-2 mls a day, so you calculate your nicotine intake by the day not by the amount of drags etc.
Another misconception about analogues is the differen between tar and nicotine. for instance an 8mg cig has 8mg of tar, but only 0.6mg of nicotine per cig. I used to smoke 12 x 8mg cigs a day, equalling a daily nic intake of around 7mg, hence my sweet spot mentioned above.
Vaping really is a beautiful thing and i highly recommend it to any snoker. People power must win out over centralised government corruption and greed so spread the word and KEEP ON VAPING!
christian
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 10:25 PMi brought electric cig from parklea markets people can complain but have they tired it themselves i have quit smoking i think its a smart idea and you dont have to just buy flavors with nicotine there are nictoine fREE its amazing because majority of smokers its a something THING to do with the hands then the plastic ones that offer no smoke and patches in the chemist its a smart idea because you get the fake flame its to break a smelly habit why dont they modficate it or fix it to it does fix with regulations
Dean
Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 11:13 PMWe are not stupid, The HONEST and ONLY reason the government banned these e-cigarettes is because they will be losing billions in revenue PLANE and SIMPLE…
Dean
Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 11:19 PMOn that note, I live in Melbourne and am wanting to purchase a GREEN SMART LIVING e-cigarette, does anyone know of any site that ships them to Australia? Cheers
Aidan
Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 6:25 PMhi guys, I think the baning of e-cigs is the governments easy way out of doing anything in this dam country… I also believe that with the amount of fucking money they waste on completely bullshit advertising is a joke! why do they spend millions of dollars on that, when they can be legalizing the sale of these fantastic technological additions that have been created by these marvelous that actually care about these awful fuckedup health problems that have come from smoking all these years..
I have been a super heavy smoker since I was about 10 and I am now 29! I have finally successfully quit these darn things finally after nearly 7+ times of trying to rid the rotten desease. If these sensarional e-cigs were around all those times of trying to quit I would have been way better off. Well it gives me great pleasure to tell you all of this amazing company and there kickass products that actually WORK or if you don’t fell like quitting just yet or ever, you can still swap tne nasty habit and change over to there amazing system.
Just think 4000 plus chemicals per ciggie down to ZERO, yep you heard right people, zero!! The name of the best company out there by far goes by the name of Apollo E-Cigs, they are based in the states but I believe they are also over in the uk as well. The savings compared to the BS prices over here in Melbourne and no doubt the whole of Australia is just amazing. If you go to there saving calculater and put in 1 pack at say $13 and you smoke a pack a day, ir will be almost 5800 or so per year and there price would be around 650 or so per year…. WTF right what a Massive difference aye?
Super healthy, smoke any wear. as its vapor it will be all good. there are even slick products like a PCC portable case which charges the e-cigs aswell as tne case itself aswell. truly amazing right. the testimonials and reviews all over the Internet really do speak for themselves… So stick it right up good old gillard and the evil government and go out and try these fantastic products from the greatest company out there. fast shipping, 30day guarantee as well. I know you wont even need to worry about that as there that damn good. Furthermore I just wanted to tell you guys that I was smoking a rediculous almost 2 full packs of winfield blues a day and now a cartridge per 2 days alot of the time. WOW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXZOMaspXd8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.apolloecigs.com/category_s/29.htm
I wish you all the best luck and good happy times lol.
Aidan
tys
Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 11:15 PMAll ive got to say is im @*!$*&$! sick of government telling me what i can i cant do, they should all be hanged
les thompson
Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 8:23 AMWe guys i am a discusting smoker 30 years. What the fluff is wronge with this picture (MONEY) dont sell smokes we will not buy them ,these new elictronic ciggys will cost the goverment millions in taxes lets just say 10% of australians smoke one packet per day say two million people SAy 50% tax ( dollors per pack = 18 millions per day = A lot of money (all math Guess only but you get the point) lets all try The electronic ciggertts (FUCK the Goverment sorry over all the rules in this contry and i love my contry
louis vapour
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 3:19 AMI have been smoking for 15 years. Tried giving up many times to no avail. The problem is I like smoking but hate what it does to your lungs. Anyway tried giving up again using patches and gum but still found it difficult and it made me feel sick. Oneday a friend introduced me to the ecig. I loved it and got myself one. I have not touched a real cig since. That was 4 months ago. On another point I prefer inhaling 3 chemicals in vapour form than 4000 chemicals in smoke form. Ecigs might not be 100 per cent safe but it is over 30000 times better than the analogues. I feel so much healthier now and can run 6 kms without getting short of breath. This is the truth.
Dazza
Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 9:54 AMI cant beleive e-cigs are banned in Australia, thank god I live in the UK. My e-cig is great after the first couple of days I wonder how I ever smoked normal fags makes me feel sick thinking about it. But from what I’ve read anti smoking groups are the most against e-cigs, in the UK anyway.
Mick
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 10:31 PMMates,
Together we can get this changed. For those of you who worry there is no “scientific” evidence these are harmful or not, please point your browser to:
http://www.healthnz.co.nz/DublinEcigBenchtopHandout.pdf
This is the ONLY study that seems fair. Not because of its conclusions, but because it actually compares e cigs to tobacco cigs. The FDA did their study, found a bit of bad stuff in 1 out of 20 they tested, and said they’re bad an dangerous, can kill you! Wonder why they didn’t compare them to tobacco cigs, or even mention that the test only found TRACE elements in ONE of the 20 they tested. Can there be any denial of an agenda?
I read recently that these e cigs will be the next gateway drug to crack cocaine! People have been against it because of the flavours..saying kids may be attracted to them. But yet not a peep about the multiple flavours of rum, vodka, etc.
E Cigs are also criticized for the possiblity of overdosing on nicotine. Well Nicotine patches have more nicotine, why’d no one spit the dummy when those were released? You get 10% of the nicotine from one puff off of e cig compared to a tobacco cig (Marlboro was the brand tested in the NZ Health study previously linked) so that argument doesn’t hold water.
In fact, as the only scientific studies conclude, and most reasonable adults who have actually tried it have concluded… Inhaling anything other than pure air is not healthy. Nicotine is an addictive drug, but e cigs are far and a way LESS harmful than combusted tobacco cigarettes. They have helped people quit, but that is not really their intention, they are a substitute, and a viable medical harm reduction strategy that the government should be more serious about evaluation.
One previous poster is correct..these people who are using disinformation and outright lies to promote tobacco as the only “safe” way to get nicotine do have BLOOD on their hands, and its up to us to hold them accountable.
All its going to take is the consumers, the people whose lives these things have changed, must stand up and tell the media, and the parliament.
If you need any help, CASAA (casaa.org) is here to provide any information you need to combat the BS that is being put out about it. CASAA is an independent consumer advocacy group, and a great reference to basically EVERY study ever done on these things.
The guy who invented this should get a nobel prize. He will eventually save as many or more lives than the bloke who invented penicillin. Fair Dinkum.
Alex Gerard
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 12:45 PMThe government making too much TAX money from selling tobacco and smoke. This electronic devices well lead to substantial loses in tobacco TAX profits and that’s why the E-Cigarettes are banned in Australia?
It’s always was, is and well be about money
Simon
Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 7:05 PMApollo Ecigs has a cool customs policy where if your order is sent back you get free re-shipping or a full refund plus shipping. Their products are really good as well, check their facebook for a review http://www.facebook.com/ApolloEcig