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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, May 22,2019
'There's always exceptions to everything, but
for the most part I have not had my patients
be successful. I've had patients say they
would try that, and they just swap one nico
tine product for the other and they had not
stopped vaping even though their intent was
to start cutting down on nicotine. It just never
seemed to happen.'
FROM 1A
Vaping
cigarettes to inhale water vapor
is a relatively new trend and
that there are not many studies
available at this time assessing
the long term effects.
According to the U.S.
Surgeon General, e-cigarettes
hit the U.S. market around
2007.
“Lack of proof that some
thing exists is not proof that it
does not exist,” Anderson said.
“Lack of proof at this point that
vaping is significantly bad for
you is not proof that it’s not
bad for you.”
On the other side of the equa
tion, Jamie Wheatley, owner of
Vaperz Den in Dawsonville,
doesn’t see the harm in what he
feels is a safer alternative to
smoking cigarettes.
Wheatley opened Vaperz Den
on Quill Drive in May 2017
and is opening his second loca
tion in Murrayville this June.
“In my mind, this country has
been pushing so much for better
healthcare and healthier things,”
Wheatley explained, “then the
industry comes along and offers
a healthier solution and then it
wants to get shot down.”
Wheatley first began vaping
about six years ago after being
a heavy smoker for more than
25 years. He was smoking two
and a half packs of cigarettes
per day when he made the
switch to e-cigarettes.
“I tried for years to quit
smoking through all different
kinds of tactics whether it was
cold turkey, candy or gum or
any of that stuff, and nothing
seemed to work,” Wheatley
said. “For me, vaping worked.”
Wheatley began by vaping
juices with 36mg of nicotine
and now vapes juices with
0-1 mg of nicotine. His success
in quitting cigarettes is part of
the reason he decided to open up
Dr. Larry Anderson
Anderson Family Medicine owner
a vape shop because he wanted
to help others quit smoking.
“I don’t think there’s any
harm to (vaping). I mean, I
know how I feel from the dif
ference of smoking to vaping. I
got my taste buds back. I can
taste my food. I can go up a
flight of stairs without having
to stop halfway up to catch my
breath. I feel better,” Wheately
said. “Somebody’s going to
find something in everything...
somebody’s going to find
something that they’re going to
pick apart.”
Anderson said of the patients
he has seen, none have been
successful with quitting ciga
rette smoking by switching to
vaping.
“There’s always exceptions
to everything, but for the most
part I have not had my patients
be successful,” Anderson said.
“I’ve had patients say they
would try that, and they just
swap one nicotine product for
the other and they had not
stopped vaping even though
their intent was to start cutting
down on nicotine. It just never
seemed to happen.”
There is little evidence sup
porting the claim that e-ciga-
rettes help reduce cigarette use.
A 2018 claim made by
Professor John Newton, Director
for Health Improvement at
Public Health England, stated
that vaping was 95 percent less
harmful that smoking cigarettes,
however in August 2018 the
European Public Health
Association released a report
stating that the widely cited 95
percent figure came from a dis
cussion among individuals, most
of whom had advocated for vap
ing products, who conceded that
they lacked evidence on which to
base their conclusion.
According to the Center for
Disease Control, e-cigarettes
are not currently approved by
the FDA as a quit smoking aid,
and a 2018 report from the
National Academy of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine
stated that there was moderate
evidence that e-cigarette use
increases the frequency and
intensity of cigarette smoking
in the future.
“I think the important thing is
that there’s no medical or gov
ernment entity that has come
out and said this product is safe
or even come out to say this
particular formulation ... is a
safe thing to do,” Anderson
said. “I don’t think anybody has
ever shown that anything you
put in your lungs that is not
clean air is not harmful.”
Wheatley, who grew up in a
home full of smokers, has seen
the harmful effects cigarette
smoking has had on him and
his family, and believes that
vaping is a healthier alternative.
“My mom was a heavy
smoker for 50 plus years and
she’s a home hospice RN nurse
and I finally got her to try it.
She’s quit smoking and now
she’s vaping,” Wheatley said.
“My dad just got diagnosed
with COPD a month ago and I
got him vaping. He had to quit
smoking cigarettes.”
Wheatley explained that ciga
rettes contain more than 4,000
chemicals including tars and
carcinogens and that the only
common ingredient between
e-cigarettes and cigarettes is the
nicotine.
“The other thing in cigarettes
is tar with chemicals and all
that other stuff but you’re bal
ancing that off by switching it
to the vaping product that has
other chemicals in it, in addi
tion to the nicotine so I see
nothing to gain,” Anderson
said.
The concentration of nicotine
has been a point of concern for
local officials. City and school
officials who have spoken in
favor of the tobacco and vaping
ordinance cited concerns with
underage children getting their
hands on vape juices containing
high concentrations of nicotine.
Though Wheatley doesn’t
condone or agree with minors
using e-cigarettes, he worries
placing more restrictions will
have an adverse effect.
“We were smoking cigarettes
while I was in middle school.
Do I condone it? Absolutely
not, but at the same time it’s
going to happen and the more
that you restrict it the more
people are going to find ways
around it to do it,” Wheatley
said.
A concern that both
Anderson and Wheatley share
revolves around the vape juice.
For Anderson, he worries what
is in the vapor being exhaled.
As a vaper, Wheatley under
stands that concern.
“My stance has always been,
if the FDA wants to regulate
the juice and how it’s made and
the facility that it’s made in,
I’m okay with that,” Wheatley
said. “The fact that if I’m going
to vape this product, if I’m
going to put it into a device and
I’m going to inhale it I would
feel much more comfortable
knowing that it came from an
ISO 6 lab and then it was done
properly as opposed to some
thing that somebody made in a
crockpot in their kitchen.”
The Dawson County
Commission will be looking to
implement a countywide ordi
nance that will mirror the city’s
ordinance so that both can be
enforced by the Dawson
County Sheriff’s Office.
The ordinances not only limit
where individuals can use
tobacco and vape products, but
it also places some regulations
on shops that sell tobacco and
vape products - which includes
service stations, liquor stores,
smoke shops and vape shops -
with the hopes of keeping the
products away from those
under 18.
As the debate continues on
the legitimacy of e-cigarettes’
benefits and consequences,
Anderson pondered a quote
from Sir Alexander Cope:
Never be the first to take up the
new or the last to give up the
old.
“When something new like
vaping comes you should sit
back and wait to see what’s
going to happen and when it
turns out that this is not a good
idea don’t be the last to give it
up,” Anderson said.
“I do feel like it is a safer
alternative to smoking ciga
rettes. If I didn’t believe in it I
wouldn’t own a shop and
wouldn’t be expanding,”
Wheatley said. “It’s not an epi
demic. It’s a choice.”
** Editor’s note: This is the
third of four articles in a series
discussing vaping.
FROM 1A
Indecent
According to a sheriff’s office
incident report, on Saturday, May
11, a woman was pumping gas at
the Marathon Food Mart at 4664
Canton Highway when a black
Ford Expedition pulled up along
side her vehicle and a male sus
pect, later identified as Davis,
asked for directions to Acworth.
“When she stepped on the
other side of the gas pump and
looked inside the vehicle, she
noticed the male was not wear
ing pants ... she observed his
penis out and his hand was on
his penis actively masturbat
ing,” the report states.
As the Ford left the gas station,
the woman was able to take a pic
ture of its tag, the report states.
From the vehicle’s tag, witness
testimony and video surveillance
from the gas station, detectives
were able to identify Davis as a
suspect and take him into custo
dy on Wednesday, according to
sheriff’s office spokesman Cpl.
Doug Rainwater.
Davis was briefly held in the
Forsyth County Jail on
Wednesday before being released
on a $2,770 bond, Rainwater said.
Attempts to reach Davis for
comment were unsuccessful as
of press time.
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