In general, there are pretty good reasons for suggesting that people avoid addictions before they're at an age where they'll make decisions about it that they'll be happy with over the long term.
> 18 and 25 are a continuation of the process that starts
> around puberty, and 18 year olds are about halfway through
> that process. Their prefrontal cortex is not yet fully
> developed. That's the part of the brain that helps you to
> inhibit impulses and to plan and organize your behavior to
> reach a goal.
If nothing else, there's a monetary cost, a possible convenience cost, etc., and people should choose maturely whether that's something they want to take on.
(And there are some plausible health risks still with vaping, as others have noted.)
Reading between the lines of the various pieces on vaping I've seen, there seem to be two common assumptions at work: 1. vaping is like cigarettes, therefore must be unhealthy or 2. this is a new substance being ingested and therefore must be unhealthy.
I'm entirely supportive of people who want to study this stuff, but the impulse that any new product should be illegal until it's been proven safe to fairly arbitrary standards seems unreasonable to me. And I think there's a bit of a baptist-bootlegger coalition between the medical researchers and tobacco companies.
We currently think that nicotine has a protective effect on the brain. Research is spotty but promising. Google “nicotine protects brain” to get started!
Oh, I'm certainly under no impression that nicotine might not have any health benefits, but with various inconclusive research it's hard to assess the complete picture and net effect. I think it's partly this way because nicotine has been studied quite little disconnected from tobacco research. (It is my understanding that there is indeed no conclusive evidence of nicotine being greatly harmful to health, and I do use nicotine products myself.)
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141164...
> AAMODT: So the changes that happen between
> 18 and 25 are a continuation of the process that starts
> around puberty, and 18 year olds are about halfway through
> that process. Their prefrontal cortex is not yet fully
> developed. That's the part of the brain that helps you to
> inhibit impulses and to plan and organize your behavior to
> reach a goal.
If nothing else, there's a monetary cost, a possible convenience cost, etc., and people should choose maturely whether that's something they want to take on.
(And there are some plausible health risks still with vaping, as others have noted.)