New Zealand may reconsider vapor

As its government rolls out its plan for tobacco plain packaging, New Zealand is also eyeing legalizing nicotine-laced e-cigarettes, according to a story on the New Zealand news website Newshub.

Currently if the products contain nicotine or claim to help people give up smoking, they are illegal. Many smokers have credited e-cigarettes with helping them to quit the habit, according to the story.

The proposal has received the backing of ACT leader David Seymour and Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox. “There’s no downside for legalizing e-cigarettes,” says Seymour.”The reality is it’s the tar that kills you from smoking, and if I had a choice from being addicted to tar or to vapor, I’d choose vapor every time.”

However, the original advocate of plain packaging in New Zealand who initiated the war on tobacco, Dame Tariana Turia, says e-cigarettes and vaping are not the solution. “I’ve never believed at any time that we should be legalizing anything that continues to facilitate cigarette smoking, and that’s what e-cigarettes does,” she said.