As a child I remember walking down to the corner convenience store to buy a candy treat. In my time you could take a quarter and buy a candy bar and get change. If you wanted to look cool, you might buy the white candy cigarettes with the pink tip and pretend to puff your way home. This candy in the shape of a cigarett is legal and always has been.
Since this audio file was made there have been various legal issues that have changed the illegality of the E-cigarette. According to Wikipedia, on 22 September 2009 under the authorization of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the FDA banned flavored tobacco (with the notable exception of menthol cigarettes) due to its potential appeal to children. The classification was challenged in court, and overruled in January 2010 by Federal District Court Judge Richard J. Leon, citing that "the devices should be regulated as tobacco products rather than drug or medical products."[51] Judge Leon ordered the FDA to stop blocking the importation of electronic cigarettes from China and indicated that the devices should be regulated as tobacco products rather than drug or medical devices.[52]
In March 2010, a US Court of Appeal stayed the injunction pending an appeal, during which the FDA argued the right to regulate electronic cigarettes based on their previous ability to regulate nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine gum or patches. Further, the agency argued that tobacco legislation enacted the previous year "expressly excludes from the definition of 'tobacco product' any article that is a drug, device or combination product under the FDCA, and provides that such articles shall be subject to regulation under the pre-existing FDCA provisions."[53] On 7 December 2010, the appeals court ruled against the FDA in a 3–0 unanimous decision, ruling the FDA can only regulate electronic cigarettes as tobacco products, and thus cannot block their import.[54] The judges ruled that such devices would only be subject to drug legislation if they are marketed for therapeutic use – E-cigarette manufacturers had successfully proven that their products were targeted at smokers and not at those seeking to quit. The District of Columbia Circuit appeals court declined to review the decision blocking the products from FDA regulation as medical devices on 24 January 2011.[55]
Concerns about public safety have been raised. However, some former smokers say they have been helped by e-cigarettes, and scientists at the University of California, Berkeley said that e-cigarettes had great potential for reducing the morbidity and mortality related to smoking.[56]
The Manufacturers of E-cigarettes claim they are less dangerous than tobacco cigarettes because they contain no tar or carcinogens and don't produce second hand smoke. It may be true that they contain no tar, but it is not true about carcinogenic chemicals. And nicotine is a powerful drug. The atomized nicotine from an electronic cigarette can be purchased in different strengths and can be much stronger than a tobacco cigarette! You inhale and exhale just like a tobacco cigarette, but what you exhale is water vapor. No smoke to annoy the person next to you, no stinky breath or smelly clothes. That is what the advertisements tell you.
The E-cigarette is aimed at the younger population, hoping to train kids to "smoke" like adults and become enticed by candy flavors. Nicotine cartridges come in flavors such as strawberry, cookies and cream, chocolate and even banana.
