Smoking, said King James I in 1604, is ¡°loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs.¡± Three years later he planted a colony in Jamestown. Its tobacco enhanced the royal treasury until Virginia produced a bumper crop of revolutionaries, including the tobacco farmer George Washington.
King James might have been less censorious about ¡°vaping,¡± which almost certainly is less harmful than inhaling chemicals produced by the combustion of tobacco. Users of e-cigarettes inhale vapors from electronic sticks containing a liquid with nicotine, which is addictive and perhaps particularly unhealthy for adolescent brains. Between 2013 and 2014 the use of e-cigarettes by middle- and high-school students tripled, and now exceeds that cohort¡¯s use of traditional cigarettes.
E-cigarettes, sometimes flavored to tempt the immature (¡°Unicorn Puke,¡± ¡°Stoned Smurf,¡± ¡°German Chocolate Beefcake¡°) might be ¡°gateway drugs,¡± leading to tobacco cigarettes. Currently, however, e-cigarettes often are substitutes for them. So, prepare for regulations combining high-mindedness and low cunning.
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