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by ceejayoz 870 days ago
Vaping isn't the same thing as smoking.
3 comments

I agree it is different, but the jury is out on whether it is better. Banning "social media" is likely to push users to a "lite" version of it. I'm not convinced that will be better.
I would call IRC "social media lite", and it is indeed better.
They are consuming nicotine, and tobacco companies are invested in / are the companies producing products in that space. It seems functionally to be the same.
Only if you ignore... a lot. Cancer rates, smoking sections in restaurants, the smell, the yellow grime and used butts sprinkled everywhere, the impact on asthmatics... Smoking a cigarette gets you a lot more than just the nicotine.

A smoker moving to vaping is an enormous benefit to health and society.

That sounds like you are being disingenuous. Smoking sections haven't been a thing in the US for a long time (I went to the last one I could find around 2009). Waste from single use vapes is also a huge problem. Similarly there are health effects specific to vaping, time will tell if cancer is among them.
> Smoking sections haven't been a thing in the US for a long time...

Yes, the regulations that made this happen are good. That's my point.

> Waste from single use vapes is also a huge problem.

Nothing like the cigarette butts that used to be everywhere.

> Similarly there are health effects specific to vaping, time will tell if cancer is among them.

We've plenty of data to safely conclude vaping is safer than smoking tobacco. That doesn't make it safe, but it's absolutely safer.

Nicotine by itself is harmless besides the addictiveness. A nicotine addiction is not going to drastically affect your mental state or cause socially disruptive behavior like domestic violence or armed robbery so it’s really nothing to be concerned about.
No, they are not remotely the same. Nicotine isn’t really that harmful, but combustion byproducts very much are. Also the effects on bystanders are orders of magnitude better.

Most of the harm from smoking comes from the smoke, not the nicotine or associated addiction.

Vaping is way cooler than smoking.