By the time Cole Cranmer was 16 years old, he was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.
He had difficulty running up a hill, but he didn’t care, the addiction had taken a strong hold.
It wasn’t until Cranmer was unable to go outside for a cigarette due to a sports injury to his knee that he tried a vapourizer given to him by his brother. After a few months, it turned into a hobby. Soon Cranmer dropped cigarettes altogether.
It’s the same story for the bulk of customers that come through the doors of Nikki’s Vapor Bar on Fort Street, where Cranmer works as the store manager. And now a review conducted by the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC (CARBC) on the harms and benefits of e-cigarettes and vapour devices has found fears that vaping is a gateway to smoking tobacco is unfounded.
“I think it’s a whole different world — vaping and smoking cigarettes,” said Cranmer. “Older gentlemen and women that are 40s and up, that are heavy smokers, once they turn to vaping they find out that actually gives you about five to 10 years back of your life.”
The report, called Clearing the Air, examines the debate around vapour devices through a review of academic literature on e-cigarettes. One of the key issues surrounding vapour devices is concern that use of them by youth could lead to tobacco products, but researchers instead found evidence that vaping is replacing — rather than encouraging, the smoking of tobacco cigarettes among young people. Evidence also shows that tobacco use by youth has been declining while use of vapour devices has been increasing.
“Fears of a gateway effect are unjustified and overblown,” said principal investigator Marjorie MacDonald. “From a public health perspective, it’s positive to see youth moving towards a less harmful substitute to tobacco smoking.”
Researchers also found strong evidence that the vapour from e-cigarettes is less toxic than tobacco cigarette smoke. It doesn’t release tar and emissions contain only 18 of the 79 toxins found in cigarette smoking, including considerably lower levels of certain cancer causing agents and volatile organic compounds. But researchers caution some vapour devices may contain potentially concerning levels of metals and particulate matter, noting there has been insufficient research regarding some significant carcinogens that may still be present.
When it comes to tobacco smokers trying to kick their addiction, researchers found encouraging evidence that vapour devices could be at least as effective as other nicotine replacements.
“The public has been mislead about the risks of e-cigarettes,” said Tim Stockwell, CARBC director and co-principal investigator. “Many people think they are as dangerous as smoking tobacco but the evidence shows this is completely false.”
The research team is recommending Canadian policy around vapour devices should not be driven by ungrounded fears of a “gateway effect,” but rather be geared towards helping tobacco smokers quit and ensuring that only the safest devices are legally available.
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