Vaper’s Vortex

July 21, 2015

“Irrespective of the fact that there are small independent players, Big Tobacco is buying up this industry faster than I am speaking,” said California Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. Leno is pushing legislation that calls for e-cigarettes and its paraphernalia to be regulated as a tobacco product.

Interesting choice of words Senator. “Irrespective”.

Here’s what a quick search of multiple dictionaries revealed as definitions for “irrespective”:

functioning without or having no regard for persons, conditions, circumstances, or consequences

in spite of everything; without regard to drawbacks

regardless; without due consideration

without regard to something else, especially something specified; ignoring or discounting

not taking (something) into account; regardless of

So what you are saying Senator is:

“With no regard for thousands of small California business owners, we’re going to do everything possible to eliminate any competition for Big Tobacco.”

“Regardless of the consequences, we need to protect Big Tobacco.”

“No drawback is too large, no sacrifice too great, to help Big Tobacco dominate the vaping industry.”

“We have to discount the importance of small business casualties – in favor of Big Tobacco.”

“The impact of this law on small business owners is simply not worthy of taking into account. They are irrelevant to the discussion.”

So what you would have us believe Senator is:

“The potential of vaping products to render combustible tobacco cigarettes obsolete is totally beside the point.”

“The fact that youth smoking rates are at historic lows as youth experimentation with vaping continues to rise – irrelevant.”

“The enormous amount of scientific evidence that vaping is 95% safer than smoking – inconsequential.”

“Public health – not government’s responsibility. Government’s responsibility is to find ways to increase taxes. And still get reelected.”

“Elimination of the most important smoking alternative in more than 50 years is top priority. Compromise is not an option. No consequence is too great.”

“My time is much too valuable to get the facts and then make informed decisions in the interest of harm reduction. Why bother? The public will support anything pitched as a blow to Big Tobacco.”

As a state senator – facts are irrelevant. Statistics – irrelevant. Science – irrelevant. All that matters is convincing the voters I’m saving our children.”

Leno you are a state senator. A politician. Irrespective of the facts, without regard for persons, conditions, circumstances, or consequences, ignoring and discounting the facts, without taking them into account, in spite of everything – you are still a fool.

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Dave Coggin has a Master’s Degree in business and spent 35 years in corporate America. He is a co-founder and partner in DIYELS. He has spent the last five years actively researching and following the evolution of the e-cigarette industry. He is a strong proponent of e-cigarettes as the most promising option currently known for tobacco harm reduction. He may be contacted directly at dave@diyels.com .

The opinions presented here are exclusively those of the author. Vaper’s Vortex is offered as a service to our customers and followers. Anyone considering e-cigarettes as an alternative to tobacco cigarettes should seek qualified advice from a medical professional.