DELIGHTED to see Kirsty Strickland’s column (Jul 3) on the difficulty of quitting vaping, the supposed route out of quitting smoking. I have worked in drugs education for more than four decades and I never believed that vaping was the easy way to quit smoking. Ten years on from the introduction of vaping I have seen no convincing proof that it does any more than keep the tobacco quitters addicted to the highly addictive nicotine. Nor do I believe it is 95% safer than smoking.
The problem Kirsty has is that her addiction to smoking was actually an addiction to nicotine. Switching to vaping just continues that nicotine addiction. Good news for big tobacco, who own most of the vaping industry and have successfully kept Kirsty on board to profit from her ill-health.
READ MORE: UK-wide cannabis farm police crackdown 'largest ever'
Nicotine is a mild stimulant and highly addictive because of two factors. Firstly stimulants make you high, but very soon after the high comes the low. In less than a minute you are dumped back down again and crave to be high again. This traps you in an addictive circle of highs and lows. You can only escape by completely stopping using the nicotine. Billions of people have already done that.
The second factor is that with all stimulant drugs you build up a tolerance to it and need to either use more of them or step up a level to a stronger stimulant.
So many people then move on to illegal substances like speed, then cocaine and crack cocaine, creating vastly higher highs and desperate lows.
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Big tobacco are desperate to stem the loss of smokers and know only too well that the younger you start using nicotine, the better for their profits. That is why they now target children with single-use vaping, which addicts children in a few days to nicotine Our crazy laws don’t even require a tobacco licence to sell these products to children. This must stop, which is why I am running a national petition to ban single-use vapes completely.
A last thought: we are all outraged that drug barons are now using children as drug mules to move illegal drugs around our communities. Why are we not outraged that big tobacco is using our children as nicotine mules to addict as many kids as they can?
Max Cruickshank
via email
HAS Orkney perhaps handed the independence campaign the opportunity of a possible boost with their decision on Tuesday?
It seems to me that, considering the dissatisfaction with their position within the UK, it would be a real benefit to the current campaign if the Scottish Government were to take on board their concerns, recognise their unique history and culture and pledge to set up a consultation about giving both Orkney and Shetland more control of their own affairs in an independent Scotland.
After all, is that not the kind of democracy we seek for Scotland? I believe the possibilities could immediately begin to be explored and could add substantial support to the independence cause.
P Davidson
Falkirk
READ MORE: Orkney shows why islands need more power in their own hands
THERE was a programme on telly recently called Britain’s Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney. It was a series where lots of Brits claimed ownership of the Orkneys even before Britain existed. Given the BritNat mindset, if Orkney Council thinks the UK will allow them to leave, well best of luck to them. They could always appeal to the Supreme Court.
Seriously though, an independent Scotland will give the Western Isles and the Northern Isles more autonomy. Keeping power centralised is what the Tories are all about.
James Arthur
Paisley
TODAY the NHS in Great Britain is celebrating its 75th anniversary. There is no doubt that it is worthy of celebration as one of the most auspicious days in our history, and yet the Tories are desperately keen to do away with it and consign it to the highest bidders, many of whom would be based in the United States.
READ MORE: NHS 75th anniversary: SNP's Michael Matheson leads praise
However, may I remind you of the first health service in Great Britain. For hundreds of years Scotland led the world in the various disciplines of medicine, but a report in 1912 headed by Sir John Dewar exposed inadequate medical and nursing services across large segments of the crofting counties, and in 1913 the Highlands & Islands Medical Service came into being, headed by Dewar himself. It covered more than half of Scotland’s landmass.
Fees were still charged but they were set at minimal levels, and people would still get treatment if they were unable to pay. It ended up providing hospital facilities in areas with no such services existed, and a medical laboratory in Inverness. It also provided the first Air Ambulance Service in 1936. It was eventually absorbed into the new Scottish Health Service in 1946 after 33 years of vital service. It has therefore provided more than 100 years of service to our nation, and that’s worth celebrating too.
Bruce Moglia
via email
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