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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 24, 2023

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When I visited the UK, the first thing my girlfriend and I bought from a gas station at 11pm while drenched in the rain was a chicken sandwich and a disposable vape.

After trying them, I can't imagine using cigarettes, not that I was ever more than that one guy who bums a cigarette off their friends when they're all out smoking.

When she was neurotic about any potential risks from doing them longterm, we went over a bunch of studies together, and the resoundingly obvious conclusion was that the health risks were minimal to nonexistent, no matter how much you smoke.

Even the terrifying headlines about popcorn lung from several years back were from counterfeit THC vapes, and the usual nicotine ones even with added flavor haven't been implicated in anything of note.

Even before I vaped, I was fucking pissed when India banned vapes. They were a great solution for weaning patients off cigs, especially since nicotine patches or gums aren't sociable nor do they scratch that ritualistic itch of lighting one up. This was done pretty much entirely at the behest of Big Tobacco here, scared by trends in the West, and the government was happy enough complying because that was a large chunk of tax revenue.

So I really wouldn't give a shit if people of any age group took up vaping, nicotine, while addictive, isn't harmful in any real sense. Weed is a bad idea for developing adolescent brains, so I'd much rather they smoke a Juul instead of a joint.

As vices go, I can't think of a more benign one, it's in the same tier as coffee as far as I'm concerned!

As vices go, I can't think of a more benign one, it's in the same tier as coffee as far as I'm concerned!

I'll go a step further and say that caffeine and nicotine in moderation aren't just acceptable vices but are actively virtue-inducing. Many of the best people ever [citation needed] were fueled by caffeine and nicotine, improving their mood and cognitive state as needed with what I would describe as "Lindy Adderall".

I'm not one to argue, after all, heroic doses of caffeine kept me going before many an exam, at least until I was diagnosed with ADHD and given stronger and more effective meds.