Open Letter to South San Francisco Officials Regarding Their Proposed E-Cigarette Moratorium

Here is a letter I sent to several South SF City Council officials (their names, titles, and email addresses are included below) against their proposed ban on e-cigarette stores such as the one I frequent, the Vapor Den . I suggest others in the Bay Area with similar sentiments use those email addresses to tell them so.

And BE POLITE.

Hi,

This is in regard to your proposed moratorium on e-cigarette stores. As a former smoker who was able to quit cigarettes because of this device, I suggest this is a very bad idea. I had been smoking for 25 years, and had tried to quit many, many times. Nothing ever worked. Not the patch (which also causes my skin to itch, so I couldn't stay on it anyway) nor the gum (which I cannot use because it dissolves fillings).

My only option was cold turkey, and when I tried it that way, I never, ever lasted more than a month. The vicious headaches, the nervousness, the sleeplessness, and the complete inability to concentrate on ANYTHING but trying to not smoke eventually would get to me. These are not issues of will, or character. They are physical things that cannot be ignored. Non-smokers do not understand what this is like. I lost count of how many times I tried to quit after twenty.I have issues with anxiety, which makes it especially hard to quit.



In May I tried using an e-cigarette instead. And from that point onward I have not felt a single craving for a cigarette. Not one. Nor any of the other effects of it. And the one time I tried one again, I couldn't--it now tasted terrible, as it had before I got used to it. It was a compromise. If my body gets the nicotine, it does not care about the other stuff a cigarette has--which is what, after all, causes cancer. I was always a considerate smoker who tried to keep it away from others. and I remain in that habit even though the e-cig does not pose any risk to others. There has not been a single downside to it. I've even saved money.





If you make it impossible for people to get that anymore, all you will be doing is forcing a lot of people to resume smoking. Period. Unless you're also going to ban the sale of cigarettes, trying to keep people from buying e-cigs will in fact force people back to the thing you're trying to get them to quit. I don't WANT to return to smoking. But I also do not want to go through withdrawal. I will not win. I know this. I will just start smoking again.



It could be argued to be hypocritical to ban this but not the sale of cigarettes. Personally, I have no issue with the rules of vaping being the same as those of smoking; as I mentioned I still remain in those habits--I don't vape in restaurants or stores, etc.



But to ban their sale entirely would be a major mistake. I urge you to consider the harm you will cause and how counter-productive this action would be.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

John Roberson