Two people who are now off cigarettes tell their story on how they battled with the smoking addiction for years and finally broke the habit with the help of vaping.
Mr Michael Dwyer from Gorey, Co Wexford has been vaping for five years in order to quit cigarettes. I had started smoking at 15 years of age. Efforts to quit cigarettes over the years had failed. Then he met people who had used vaping to quit decided to try it.
“It took about six weeks to get used to them. After that I had no urge to go back to cigarettes. They taste totally different to cigarettes and I have got use to the flavours.
“Vaping works for me because it has a small amount of nicotine to stop the craving and replaces the physical action of smoking as well.
“Today, I don’t need to vape as much as I did in the beginning and I am certainly not vaping as much as I smoked cigarettes in the past.”
I am feeling much healthier now and I am also saving a lot of money the cost of vaping is much less than cigarettes.
Michael is adamant that people who do not smoke should not start vaping. However, there is no doubt in his mind that we should encourage smokers to try vaping as a way of quitting tobacco.
“I think it is dangerous nonsense for any Government to treat vaping the same as smoking – in terms of health and addiction- as they are very different. I strongly urge those working on the proposed legislation on vaping, to read the facts from every
sector, at home and abroad, and to listen to the people, like me, who have finally given up smoking thanks to vaping.
“As most smokers in Ireland are in the low-income bracket, it would make sense for the Government to get smokers to switch to vaping. The benefits would be significant, with improved health and less need for medical treatment,” he said.
Respect Vapers – a grassroots organisation set up to represent Ireland’s 200,000 vapers is concerned that Irish health authorities and the European Commission are still refusing to acknowledge the important role vaping plays for smokers looking to quit.
According to the Department of Health’s Healthy Ireland findings, 41% of Irish people who successfully quit smoking used vaping, and the Healthy Ireland 2019 survey showed a 30% increase in the number of ex-smokers using vaping.
Spokesperson, Joe Dunne points out that the Department of Health statistics in Ireland have routinely been ignored as politicians rush to introduce new laws attacking vaping.
“There are 200,000 vapers in Ireland and Respect Vapers is fighting for them. We are also fighting for the 850,000 Irish smokers who need options like vaping to help them to quit tobacco.
Vaping is NOT smoking. There is no tobacco in vaping products and there are strict regulations for those sold in Ireland. 200,000 vapers can’t be wrong and they want Government to look at how it helped them to quit tobacco and to include it is an option for others. We also urge the Government to ban the sale of vaping products to people under 18 years of age. Vaping has a role in stopping people smoking.
