BANNING IS NOT THE ANSWER

E-Cigarettes are an epidemic affecting teens, adults, and the U.S. Government SIGNIFICANTLY. At least two-thousand people have become ill from the use of e-cigarettes and more than forty people have faced death because of them. The problem regarding the lack of ability to control underage use of these deadly devices is being wrongly dealt with by the government. 

E-cigarettes are most definitely not the first product that the United States has been unable to control underage/illegal use of. Cigarettes were initially welcomed to people of all ages with the included advertisements of Marlboro having children hold their products. Though America did not yet know the terrible and deadly effects of tobacco usage at the time, the same concept is likewise being discovered with e-cigarettes. These small devices boomed with the now iconic slogan, “The alternative to smoking.” This is represented on the multi billion dollar company called JUUL. Horrific health outcomes are now being exploited and the government is scattering for a solution. Recently Congresswoman DeLauro passed the House bill “Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act (H.R. 3942).” This bill requires a strict age verification online making is less accessible to minors. This is a step in the right direction for eliminating kids’ use of e-cigarettes, but does not solve the problem.

 The government wants to completely ban these products altogether, but that wrongfully takes away the product for adults who actually use them for their intended purpose. Prohibition has never worked in America, why would it work now? Because of the outrage and publicity e-cigarettes have prompted, the more pressing issue is that actual cigarettes aren’t being compared during this fight of elimination. Taking away these devices would just force tobacco back into the lives of adults. The answer to this roaring problem is not banning. The answer is tax raises, advertisement changes, and prominent health awareness.