PHILIPPINES – “Some readers, including colleagues in the medical community, have been asking us to explain why we support the vape bill. Our short answer is, “Because we would like to put our smokers back into the health equation.” We confess that in our clinic, we used to have a condemning, somewhat discriminatory attitude toward our recalcitrant smokers. Yes, we unjustly excluded them from the health equation previously, as if their lives didn’t matter, and they deserved whatever complications they were likely to develop with continuous smoking. We’re convinced that properly regulated ATPs are a potent tool and our best bet at the moment to finally reduce smoking to the barest minimum in 10 years’ time. We’ve tried all sorts of carrot-and-stick interventions—from nicotine gums and patches to hypnosis, acupuncture and sin taxes—but they just didn’t work well enough to attain our goal for our smokers. We have explained in a previous commentary that the use of e-cigs and HTPs could serve as a pragmatic middle ground to wean smokers off their addiction to cigarettes. Making them quit smoking eventually is our primary objective but, meanwhile, they should be given access to these less harmful ATPs.”
Vape bill ‘1st real antismoking measure in 20 years’
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