Mutinous Vape Britain
Tales of partial zero tolerance for risk and hidden treasure on the online media’s high seas.
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by Dave Cross
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“E-cigarettes Spark Nicotine Replacement Therapy Mutiny,” wrote Newswire. The noun received no elaboration in the article and failed to recognise that no one is rebelling against a constituted authority. When one considers that ‘mutiny’ is normally used in reference to sailors it becomes more bizarre given that the Royal Navy are allowing submariners to vape inside nuclear submarines.
Maybe the purpose of the piece was to show people a bounty fit for a vaping pirate? To illustrate a point the piece didn’t make, it says: “The immensely popular vaping device Innokin Cool Fire IV,” linking to Innokin’s site, “allows users to control the levels of voltage and wattage to personalise their vaping experience.” The graphs accompanying the article are as much use as a treasure map without an X given the lack of axis titles or labels.
The entire article can be distilled into the earth-shattering news that ‘some people are vaping instead of using NRT products and some people think they might be a bit dangerous. Oh, and don’t forget that the Innokin Coolfire IV is immensely popular. Oh yes, and mutiny arrrr...’
Dundee vapers will be saying “Ahh” too, but in full it sounds more like: “Argh, Andrew Radley – what on earth are you saying?”
Radley is a consultant for public health for the Tayside NHS. He tells the Evening Telegraph that the plummeting figures for smoking in the area can be attributed to the great success of their anti-smoking programs.
“We have done really well with giving up smoking in Tayside, which is a really positive thing,” effuses Mr Pharmacist. “We have done lots of good work and people are coming forward to stop smoking in their droves.” Which sounds brilliant except they haven’t and they aren’t.
The number of nicotine patches handed out in the region has halved year-on-year to 196,306 and there has been over a 25% drop in the quantity of nicotine gum being dispensed. Why? Radley confesses: “Our guess is people are trying e-cigarettes, rather than trying to stop smoking altogether.”
The consultant is keen to give advice for people seeking clarity and education: “You probably are better off on e-cigarettes (than smoking) but it would be far better to give up altogether.” That sounds like common sense if you are thinking about harm reduction with a view to harm avoidance – but then he champions Champix: “You’re four times more likely to quit smoking if you use nicotine replacement therapies, such as Champix tablets. These products are available free from the pharmacy.”
Champix has been linked to so many suicides you would have thought that any public health official worth their sea salt would be advising against them. Maybe it’s time to raise the cutlasses?
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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