Hello! I’m writing this on my phone from Orlando where we’re attending the CADCA conference – (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America). While I attend sessions to help me do my job, four members of our Youth Alliance are here learning theirs. They are having a wonderful time. They are the only delegation from California and they will tell you about the National Youth Leadership Institute when they get back home.

Today I want to write about e-cigarettes. A friend of ours is a chain smoker. While I enjoy his company, I hate being subjected to second-hand smoke. So I was surprised and intrigued when he smoked an electronic cigarette! The house didn’t smell and neither did we! He inhaled less frequently but said he was getting a sufficient amount of nicotine.

His response to e-cigarettes supports a doctor friend of mine who said e-cigs help smokers cut back. The problem is they also encourage people,  especially kids, to start smoking.

Yesterday my stereotype idea was dashed when I saw a “WASP country club” gentleman smoking an e-cig by the pool. So what’s with these things?

A Wells Fargo analyst expected sales to reach $2 billion in 2013, tripling 2012 revenues. No longer the darling of small companies, Big Tobacco has  entered this market – it isn’t taxed heavily like traditional tobacco. Smoking is being brought back indoors and on planes (among other places) with their fruit-flavored scents.

What concerns us is that kids love them. One middle school parent called me to say her son asked for an e-hookah because “all the kids have them.” While I doubt it and she said “No,” she asked me to put information on our website – which I did.

Is “vaping” really the rage? Look around the community. You’ll notice an increase in retailers selling these products. Go in and talk to them so you can educate yourself and your family.

Finally,  L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer halted the medical marijuana farmers’ market I wrote about last week saying it violated Prop D that was passed by voters.

Suzy Jacobs, Executive Director,
CV Alliance
3131 Foothill Blvd. Suite D
La Crescenta, CA 91214
(818) 646-7867  http://cv-alliance.org/

  Suzy JACOBS