Stupid idiotic newspaper reporter!

[spydre]

Okay, one, maybe two weeks ago, I was reading the local paper online, and they had a second story about the newest vape shop, NiMa Vapes, in the area to open up. Not sure why they got the second article. Anyway, so I'm reading it, and I guess they interviewed the ONE customer that was enjoying the "and lounge" atmosphere that day. He was freaking 18! And the idiot actually TOLD them he STARTED smoking in high school. Was a track "star", went to state in one of his race lengths, and then he started smoking, he basically added 10 seconds to him time because his lungs weren't in the right shape anymore. So now he's switched to vaping, and he's breathing much better (or as he put it, he has much better endurance).

Okay, so yeah, he's old enough to smoke NOW, but he told his story to this journalist, and the journalist HAD to know that he was underage when he was talking about smoking in high school, how his performance differed from one year to the next, and I think it was irresponsible that they printed ANYTHING about him smoking as a high school student. They didn't come out and say he was under 18 at the time, and I guess it's not unheard of to not start smoking until your senior year of high school, but I doubt it. And would smoking for less than one year really affect his lungs to the point where he added 10 seconds to his time, or would it take more time than that?

I just....feel like they shouldn't be publishing stories from people who give the impression that they smoked when they were under 18.

Am I the only one?

[Joshuab3687]

I agree with ya Spydre

[fishguy1123]

I guess at 18 he basicaly gave consent to them to use his statement. Also, 10 seconds is relative to the distace.... 100yrds... no! lol But longer distances I guess it could happen. He may have been trying, in his own way to promote the benefits of vapeing. Just sucks that he happens to be so young and used analogs at an even younger age for the story.

[Jeffb]

He started the bad habit of smoking before he was 18, much like a lot of us here. Im glad he switched to vaping.

[joe2003]

I think you're looking at this from the wrong angle.

It's widely known that a percentage of school age kids smoke

so there's nothing sensitive about that.The fact that he is now

of legal age and sees vaping as a better alternative is a

positive in my book.

If the reporter just presented those facts without trying to

present vaping in a bad light then this is a vaping success story

IMO.

Unless there's something more that the reporter said that makes vaping

look bad,that you didn't tell us,then this seems like a legit way to tell

the public that no matter when you started smoking there is an alternative

way to get your nic and that it can be better for you.

You just need to be of legal age to get it.

[Bebop]

Spydre I worry about you sometimes.

[spydre]

Spydre I worry about you sometimes.

Well, I guess I just know how the people in my podunk area will take it. Yeah, they know kids tend to start smoking in high school (and studies are showing later in high school), but they have deluded themselves into believing since the numbers have gone down, that it's no a problem here. PLUS, the Police Department the last few years has stepped up it's enforcement efforts as far as undercover attempts to buy cigarettes as a minor - not as much as liquor sales, since the Mayor ultimately controls the liquor licenses, but they do go in about once a quarter to about 20 shops (usually gas stations or places like Walgreen's, and usually the Sheriff's Dept. so they can hit more than one town) and send a "more mature" looking high school age person in to attempt to buy. Granted, 20+ years ago, but you could buy cigarettes underage practically ANYWHERE. There were a few exceptions - I mean, I wouldn't attempt to buy from the little convenience store right outside my neighborhood, because they KNEW me, they watched me grow up. But JUST ABOUT any other gas station or convenience store (with the exception of the ones right near the high school, they weren't stupid), you could buy without getting carded, although, ironically enough, I was carded for a carton of smokes when I was 22. Had a toddler in my arms, heavily pregnant, dressed professionally, and I got carded at a gas station that I was buying smokes at when I was 16.

But people around here, unless they have a kid that smokes, or know a kid that smokes, stick their head in the sand and pretend it doesn't happen, and then immediately, their first thought is, what about the kid's parents (and then they make assumptions on the socio-economic status of the parents, even if MOST of the people around here are of the same essential circumstances). The exceptions would be the ones that smoked before age limits were put in place.

[Jeffb]

You have typed paragraphs of words but still haven't explained why its idiotic.

[VaporJunkie]

I used to run track in high school and adding 10 seconds to your time because of smoker lungs is not uncommon at all, if you can't take in as much oxygen as you used to be able to then you're muscles can't receive oxygen which in turn leads to the build up of lactic acid and creates the feeling of "heavy legs." IMO this is a very positive article for vaping, smoking underage is very common I feel it's better to be transparent then to try to hide the fact that it happens.