I miss owning a vape shop. It was satisfying to help people quit smoking. Some wonderful people walked through my door, in a small town in Minnesota, and I felt honored that they chose me to help them change their lives.
In July 2019, an elderly man came in. I will never forget him. As he approached the counter, it was clear that he was having difficulty breathing. As he reached for his phone, he pulled two inhalers out of his pocket.
We started chatting and he told me that going to a vape shop was an act of desperation. He was a veteran with COPDhe explained, and he had minimal resources. When I called him “sir,” he told me to call him “Bob” – a nickname he had acquired during the Vietnam War.
I was determined that he would not leave without an e-cigarette, no matter how little he had to spend. I had to help him quit smoking.
The doctors at the veterans center had been telling him to quit for years, he said, but nothing they advised him to do helped him succeed. By coming to my store, Bob against the Council of the VA DoctorsHe said they told him that vaping just as harmful as smoking.
Still, he walked out with a refillable pod device, a spare box of pods, and some strawberry-flavored e-liquid, ready to give it a try.
Over the next two weeks, Bob nine of his veterinary colleagues asked me to stop smoking. They called their e-cigarettes “puff machines.”
As he When I returned the next day, I was bursting with pride because he hadn’t smoked since the night before, and my eyes filled with tears.
But it got better. Because this time Bob brought a fellow veteran who saw him “puffing on the thing” and had to try it out. His friend wanted the same vape setup and decided to quit smoking too.
Over the next two weeks, Bob nine his colleagues to get my help in quitting smoking. They called their vapes “puffing machines”. They thought they were too old to benefit from quitting smoking, but as the VA rightly told themIt is never too lateThey were surprised that they felt better after they stopped.
The most frustrating thing about trying to help them was hearing the exact same story from each of them.
They had been to the VA, but none of the prescribed methods worked, and the VA doctors urged them not to start vaping. These deserving men had been let down. They had not been told the truth about their relatives. Security And effectiveness of vaping as Smoking cessation method, nor is support provided for accessing the full range of options.
It broke my heart when I saw that some of my veterinarians believed the inaccurate reports and Return to smoking.
This fall, the news was flooded with Misinformation about vaping and vaping nicotine was wrongly associated with “EVALI”, a disease caused by vitamin E acetate in illegally manufactured THC cartridges.
It broke my heart when I saw that some of my veterinarians believed the inaccurate reports and Return to smoking.
Once again they deserved better, and I didn’t want them to die from smoking on my watch. I had to print out loads of data, track them down at their favorite cafes, and talk a lot. But eventually they all went back to vaping and were smoke-free again.
As I got to know them better, they made it clear that their stories were not isolated and that the VA nationwide discourages the use of e-cigarettes for veterans who cannot or will not quit smoking. When I heard this, I was sure that the VA would have developed better advice for smoking veterans in recent years. My research disappointed me.
The 96-page My workbook for quitting smoking The VA only offers veterans a discouraging paragraph about vapes. The 2023 Health and Health Care Utilization Survey among Enrolled Veterans, in the meantime, is full of the kind of misleading information that can deter smokers from switching to safer alternatives – including warnings about “carcinogenic chemicals” without the context that The dose makes the poisonand an obvious confirmation of the myth of “Popcorn Lung” caused by vaping.
“Ignoring established science and refusing to adopt technological advances that could save veterans’ lives is a failure in our commitment to those who have served,” said Dr. Timothy Vermillion, a disabled veteran, recently wrote for filter“It’s time for the Veterans Administration to embrace innovation and get it right.”
If the VA endorses and recommends options such as Evaporator, bag And heated tobacco productsit could change the prospects for this population.
The VA has made great strides in promoting harm reduction for people who use federally prohibited drugs—Developing an initiativefor example, with contributions from veterans who themselves have experience with drug use. Over 900,000 people Individuals receiving VA care who currently smoke cigarettes are entitled to the same amount.
The VA should Hear to veterans who have switched to safer alternatives to smoking. They deserve to have a voice. Their stories can Change your mind and show how helpful these products can be. Considering what veterans have been through, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
Compared to previous decades, fewer veterans smoke today, This is excellent news. But too many smokers are unable to stop– despite increased efforts by the VA, including newer options such as smoking cessation apps.
If the VA endorses and recommends options such as Evaporator, bag And heated tobacco products– all in the context of large-scale smoking cessation at the population level – this could change the outlook for this population.
Of all the veterans I worked with, Bob was my favorite. He was a gruff old guy that most people thought was a grouch, but he had the kindest, most caring heart. You just had to cheat your way through it before he showed it to you.
I closed my vape shop at the end of 2021. The flood of Misinformation Was without interruptionas well as the resulting bureaucratic hurdles for small businesses in the vape industry. It simply became impossible to continue.
Bob had many health problems due to decades of smoking and the things he was exposed to in Vietnam. Without my continued Support in the vape shop and my constant debunking of misinformation, Bob started smoking again in the spring of 2022. In the summer of the same year he died of pneumonia.
In September 2022, shortly after Bob’s death, I was on a panel in Washington, DC. Our topic was “Forgotten smokers“, and I wanted to use my speaking time to tell stories of people I helped quit smoking.
One of those people would be Bob. Before I left for DC, I showed my presentation to my group of veterans. I saw their eyes moisten as I told them Bob was one of the bravest people I’ve ever known, and I vowed to overcome my fears by getting on stage and telling the stories of people like Bob, my hero.
The guys were excited to have veterans included in my talk. I had told them I was meeting other tobacco harm reduction activists for drinks in DC, and before I left they gave me a small envelope. They told me not to open it until I went for a beer. They’re pranksters, and I was sure it was a joke gift. But when I opened it in the bar, money fell out. I had to ask a friend to read the letter because I was too emotional.
The VA must recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach to smoking cessation is not enough. We owe it to veterans to provide them with a comprehensive range of resources, including Harm reduction in tobacco consumptionWe owe it to them to respond to their specific needs, tell them the truth and support their decisions She do for yourself.
From Embrace By reducing tobacco harm, the VA can help more veterans like Bob. Fear-mongering caused him to start smoking again. He deserves so much better.
Photo (cropped) of a hat at the Moving Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Eugene, Oregon, by Rick Obst via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
