I don't think the law is driving people to tobacco. The law seems to basically give up on incorrigible cigarette smokers who won't (can't, even if they try?) be swayed by the best of intentions and data, and trying to ensure that less well-informed people don't fall prey to fancy e-cigarette ads which don't do much to specify how much nicotine they contain and how addictive they are.
I agree that it's not the best of implementations. Unsure how effective it will be though, but it's one of the easiest to cook up.
edit: I fully support downvotes if you think this comment is insensitive, but at least provide a bit of logic so I can understand what I might be missing?
You don't have a clue. The alternative for many of (myself included) is cigarettes, not quitting. You can call us lazy, weak, whatever, it doesn't matter; we like smoking and we're not going to stop.
Yes, I don't have a clue. No, I'm not calling you weak/lazy/whatever. Incorrigible doesn't mean either of these things. You like smoking, feel free to do so. I'm just saying that it's known that nicotine, in general, is a bad idea. If you know that and yet you smoke, go ahead. But there's going to be efforts from any reasonable government to not get any new members to the club.
> we like smoking, and we're not going to stop
I have a feeling that you don't mean that, but would you rather have a bunch of kids thinking they're doing a cool thing (apparently a lot of kids used to think that about Juul not too long ago in the States)? For them, cigarette's not going to be a substitute as it is for smokers currently. Cigarettes are already that icky thing old people do and cause lung cancer (basically their favorite movie star told them so for 2 years).
By all means, smokers can continue smoking, but they should expect some backlash towards your new favorite thing because it might be less harmful than smoking, but is still harmful for potential new users.
>I have a feeling that you don't mean that, but would you rather have a bunch of kids thinking they're doing a cool thing (apparently a lot of kids used to think that about Juul not too long ago in the States)?
I do, and please spare me the "think of the children" argument. It's not a good enough reason to infringe upon my rights and health. Kids have and will do things that are bad for them. It's inevitable. I'm not saying don't try to curb it, just don't punish me at the same time. Make it harder to get for anyone under 21. Institute reasonable regulations for juice manufacturers. I'm fine with that.
>By all means, smokers can continue smoking, but they should expect some backlash towards your new favorite thing because it might be less harmful than smoking, but is still harmful for potential new users.
Banning it completely is far from "some backlash".
It matters because it tells you what the actual intentions of the government are. There is a massive cigarette/tobacco lobby that might have influenced the decision since e-cigarettes were eating into their profits. Tobacco farmers had previously petitioned [1] the government to ban e-cigarettes.
Yeah, it does. If you're addicted to nicotine because you've been vaping up to this point and are looking for an alternative, what's your next best option (aside from quitting)?
Yes it matters if they are making it illegal because they actually care about people's health, and if so then they need to apply the law equally to reflect that.