Inernet Bans in Vermont; Maybe the Domino Effect Was Real

A note from my heart on H 747

In a State that has Bernie Sanders as a Senator, a true Progressive Party member, and a history of individualism and of course Ethan Allen and Ben and Jerry's, it is hard to imagine that this state would be the first to criminalize the freedom of God fearing Vermont residents for attempting to stop smoking.

I have never been told that I was able to express my thoughts and opinions in a paragraph or two, so I hope that my lengthy diatribe is not out of line. The common good is my passion and the loss of freedom and especially the hardships of this time and its effects on the hard working men and women have made that passion more fervent.

There are many facets to any subject and the most important, in my opinion, is that there is a need to protect those that have not reached the age of consent without causing harm to those of the age of consent. I fully support the Vermont actions to remove tobacco and tobacco products from the hands of children. They are our most precious resource. To never start is to never have to stop.

Bill H 747 addresses that issue well from the standpoint of protecting the child. I wish 56 years ago that such was the case for myself and others of my generation. Smoking in my youth was the water bottle of this era. Nearly everywhere was tobacco and smokers. At 12 or 13 I started and by 25 knew I needed to quit. The advent of replacement therapies gave me hope, as quitting was impossible. I had tried every agent used from gums, patches and medication therapies along with counseling. A month or two after ending the prescribed regimens; relapse.

In 2010 I was introduced to vaping, a simple means of obtaining nicotine (which I literally have been exposed to since conception). The content of the vapor is similar to FDA patches when looking at the residual carcinogenic compounds that are ingested. I have not smoked a cigarette since the first day I vaped and am actually vaping solutions that are near zero nicotine. Smoking is a behavior that is biological and psychological. That is where the 50-75 percent of smokers who keep relapsing when trying to quit fail. Nicotine free for 2 months and then smoke again is counter to any intellectual process. Vaping has improved my health, stamina and dramatically changed my life.

This is not to say that nicotine replacement therapies that are marketed have no place in society, it is not to say that smokeless tobacco does not have a place in society- it is only to say that they did not work for this person.

I do not live in Vermont, but I entertained doing my residency in Burlington when I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill. The visit was wonderful and people delightful and progressive. If it were not for my wife's pregnancy and a desire to be near family, I would have accepted that position.

I am a retired, ex-smoking physician who has elected to go back to school to teach High School Physics and Biology. I should have known better than to start smoking but in the sixties and seventies that was the norm.

As I am returning to teach it is very apparent that children and adolescents are not developmentally able to make decisions wisely. The millions of people who have successfully stopped inhaling tobacco smoke through vaping are freeing themselves from the 4000 chemicals that include at least 50 carcinogens (nicotine not one of them) and changing, through grassroots efforts, the options for tobacco users. Unfortunately the ending of internet sales will drastically hamper the effort toward harm reduction. We know 400,000 people will die from cancer of the lung each year. Vaping has been quoted by the Boston University Department of Public Health as 98% safer than smoking. It requires credit cards, is costly and there is no evidence that adolescents are using vaping to get their nicotine.

On the other hand the expanse of your state makes vender available personal vaping devices and the liquids unfeasible to most. Internet sale elimination will make citizens that are only attempting to find a potentially safer (and legal) avenue for either use or cessation criminals. It seems counterproductive to a medical mind to block this when prescription medications that are lethal are dropped on front porches daily by health insurance companies and the VA. Internet access is essential for people like me who live in rural areas (I am in New Mexico) and inflict their greatest harm on those of the lower and middle income groups who would have to cross borders and spend their money in other states, when they could order from Vermont Vapers for example.

I urge you and your committee to stand tall and defend those who cannot make decisions and make it criminal to sell or buy any nicotine, alcohol or prescription medication for a minor. I also urge that you allow adults of age to have the ability to engage in a life changing means of tobacco harm reduction that presently requires internet and mail order for its availability.

The only jobs that will be enhanced, in my opinion, are those of the jails that will be filled with good citizens who found a way to stop smoking and postal box sales in towns outside the Vermont borders.

Please keep hope alive for those who have found it by not eliminating internet and mail order sales. People will go back to smoking and the chemical and particulate smoke that carries with it the morbidity of cigarettes will increase health costs and decrease the quality of the life of the citizens of Vermont.

Please keep the statutes that penalize those that would introduce any nicotine product to youth. This is wise and essential. To ban internet availability is to mimic prohibition and can only deter a more hopeful lifestyle.

For more information go to cassa.org.

Thank you,

John Connell, M.D. (and future educator)