What Would Happen If All Smokers Switched To Electronic Cigarettes?   Chaos And Confusion or Improved Health And Lifestyle?




Ever wonder what would happen if all smokers switched to electronic cigarettes?  It may sound like a frivolous question but the repercussions would be widespread. Tobacco farmers would need to raise a different crop and the large tobacco subsidies from government would disappear. That is often one of the first things we think of but over the years tobacco products have become entrenched in numerous sectors of our economy.

 

Federal and State governments rely on taxes from tobacco products. In the current economic downturn many states have raised taxes on tobacco products. One example is the State of Mississippi which raised its long-standing cigarette tax of 18 cents per pack to 49 cents per pack in 2009. This 31 cent increase in tobacco tax will create an estimated additional 25 million dollars annually for the state.

 

States would lose significant income from tobacco tax but would gain revenue from sales tax on electronic cigarettes. More significantly, medical costs would begin to decline as fewer people would suffer from smoking related illness. We know smoking cigarettes can cause cancer, contribute to heart disease and emphysema and is a causal factor for other major illnesses. The chemicals inhaled through smoking also may weaken the immune system resulting in medical costs for treatments of colds, allergies, bronchitis and pneumonia.

 

Less disease would require less medication and fewer hospitalizations which would reduce stress on our medical system but provide less profit for big pharma and for-profit medical facilities. If the popularity of e-cigarettes led to no tobacco being sold in the United States, it would be interesting to see what advertising campaigns would be used in an attempt to reverse the trend. Would pharmaceutical companies and the FDA argue that smoking is good for you?

 

Think of the smaller changes we would see. Never again would you walk into a room and smell stale cigarette or cigar smoke. Dirty ashtrays would be history and become collectibles. Products to remove the tobacco odor from furniture and curtains would disappear from the shelves at the grocery. In public areas, ventilation systems could be less expensive to run as they would not need to recycle stale air fast enough to remove second hand smoke.

 

If everyone in the country switched to electronic cigarettes no homes would burn from dropped cigarettes. You would only need to dig your e-cig out from under the cushion if you doze off on the couch. Reducing the risk of disease created by cigarettes should reduce insurance rates for health insurance over time.

 

Twenty years after everyone has switched to electronic cigarettes we’ll notice we all look younger than our smoking parents did. Our skin will acquire laugh lines and frown lines but the sallow, wrinkled skin caused by tobacco smoke wafting over it for years will be a thing of the past. Could that be enough to reduce the volume of cosmetic surgery?

 

It is likely that every dollar lost by a company due to the demise of tobacco use would be regained by another company. Less need for over the counter medications might hurt the bottom line of drug manufacturers but a healthier public would have time and money to spend on other pleasures. States would lose significant tax income but receive huge benefits in the money not spent on public health care commitments. If everyone in the country switched to electronic cigarettes the only loser would be tobacco companies and pharmaceutical giants.

 

If you are looking for a great E-Cigarette, I would highly recommend the one from Green Smoke. I have written a review about it here.

 

Mary Kay Rivers