Readers React: Vaping helped me kick a 30-year addiction to cigarettes

To the editor: I smoked for 30 years and tried virtually every conceivable method to quit. After countless attempts, vaping was the only successful method that allowed me to quit smoking both permanently and literally overnight. I am convinced that vaping has saved my life.

So I am both frightened and furious at the notion of making it more difficult to vape (“The wrong way to stop teen vaping,” editorial, June 24). These dangerous new bans and regulations popping up throughout California will undoubtedly make it harder for others to quit smoking and stay cigarette-free.

Flavor products specifically played a critical role in my journey to quit cigarettes. Had it not been for flavored vape, I may never have been able to stop smoking. Now, I would never go back to cigarettes because the taste is so terrible compared to my flavored vapor products. I can confidently say that I never would’ve started smoking in the first place had there been a safer alternative like vaping.

Smoking kills millions every year and studies have shown that flavor is a major factor for those who successfully quit cigarettes by switching to vaping. I hope that regulators will not endanger millions of Americans trying to quit smoking by making access to flavors and vaping more difficult.

Brad Friedman, Los Angeles

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