Shelly and I were watching the local news the other night, the anchor woman says something like
"Many are concerned about the lack of regulation of vape shops."
I pop off
"Yes I have been very concerned about the lack of regulation of vape shops, haven't you?"
Shelly looked at me kind of funny, it was like I had snapped her out of her TV trance, she caught on and
quickly replied.
"Why yes, I too have been very concerned about the lack of regulation regarding vape shops."
We watched the rest of the story with a restored sense of skepticism and both of us came to the same
conclusion.
Vape shops are good for the local economy and it is very likely that tobacco companies are really the ones
"Concerned about the lack of regulation of vape shops."
And they would love to influence the government to regulate them right out of business.
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For some reason, Oklahoma City has a disproportionate share of the nation's estimated 5,000 vape shops, and many of the people who run them--and their customers--are no friendlier toward cigarette makers than the U.S. Surgeon General's office. One 47-year-old ex-smoker who gave up smokes for vaping says he "now holds his head high" at his local church. "I feel like I'm one step closer to God," he says. "This takes the crime out of smoking."
I'm not sure what he means by that, but Richtel has captured something important in this story. E-cigarettes are not cigarettes, or replacements for cigarettes, exactly. They are something new. And the small businesses that have sprouted in Oklahoma City and elsewhere to sell the devices and the flavored liquid nicotine they run on find themselves in an interesting position, fearing tobacco industry encroachment on one side and government regulations on the other.
Richtel explores the interesting issues surrounding the regulation of vaping in the states and by the federal government, and why it matters whether these are classified as tobacco products or not. (The nicotine comes from tobacco.)
More at /ksj.mit.edu
"Many are concerned about the lack of regulation of vape shops."
I pop off
"Yes I have been very concerned about the lack of regulation of vape shops, haven't you?"
Shelly looked at me kind of funny, it was like I had snapped her out of her TV trance, she caught on and
quickly replied.
"Why yes, I too have been very concerned about the lack of regulation regarding vape shops."
We watched the rest of the story with a restored sense of skepticism and both of us came to the same
conclusion.
Vape shops are good for the local economy and it is very likely that tobacco companies are really the ones
"Concerned about the lack of regulation of vape shops."
And they would love to influence the government to regulate them right out of business.
 |
| Photograph by Joe Raedle/Getty Images |
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The cowboy culture of Oklahoma City's vape shops.
A long story by Matt Richtel in last Sunday's New York Times looks at what I have to believe is a disappearing culture. It's not about an old folk tradition in some mountain village or the practices of indigenous people in a remote corner of the Amazon. It's about indigenous, mom-and-pop e-cigarette stores--vape shops--in Oklahoma City.For some reason, Oklahoma City has a disproportionate share of the nation's estimated 5,000 vape shops, and many of the people who run them--and their customers--are no friendlier toward cigarette makers than the U.S. Surgeon General's office. One 47-year-old ex-smoker who gave up smokes for vaping says he "now holds his head high" at his local church. "I feel like I'm one step closer to God," he says. "This takes the crime out of smoking."
I'm not sure what he means by that, but Richtel has captured something important in this story. E-cigarettes are not cigarettes, or replacements for cigarettes, exactly. They are something new. And the small businesses that have sprouted in Oklahoma City and elsewhere to sell the devices and the flavored liquid nicotine they run on find themselves in an interesting position, fearing tobacco industry encroachment on one side and government regulations on the other.
Richtel explores the interesting issues surrounding the regulation of vaping in the states and by the federal government, and why it matters whether these are classified as tobacco products or not. (The nicotine comes from tobacco.)
More at /ksj.mit.edu
