With this possible ban at the horizon, I’ll start by saying that I don’t fully agree with it. Yes, I understand it, but I don’t agree with it. 

I do agree that flavored vapes, such as Fruit Loops, Swedish Fish, and pancake flavors, are definitely aimed towards teens and young adults. The original point of vape-able nicotine was to help smokers find a better alternative to traditional cigarettes. 

Now, it has become extremely trendy and people, including a large number of teenagers, are solely becoming addicted to vaping and through that, nicotine. This is definitely a negative thing, but I don’t think we should be going as far to ban all flavored vapes.  

It’s not fair whatsoever to ban it as there are people who actually use it in place of smoking cigarettes. Also, anyone with a brain should know that banning a substance will not get rid of the problem. 

And yes, nicotine is a problem, but that’s not new at all. Cigarettes have been around since the mid-1800s and interestingly enough, more than six people have died from the usage of them. 

Yes, vaping is dangerous, but so is inhaling any unnatural substance into your lungs, the organ that literally helps you breathe.  

Now as for THC cartridges, yes there are people getting sick. But it’s because people are purchasing fake cartridges from suspicious sellers (who probably get their drugs from China). If you pay $10-$20 for a cartridge, then honestly, you should expect to get sick because no legitimate cartridges will sell for that low of a price. 

THC itself actually has many benefits and has been known to help people with PTSD, panic attacks, seizures, and many other conditions. The First Word mentioned that “we should begin considering actions against THC vape products.” 

This is interesting since THC (weed) is already illegal and therefore banned by the government. But obviously that doesn’t stop people from acquiring them. So even if flavored vapes are banned, people will most definitely still get their hands on them.  

Going back to the deaths linked to vaping, so far there are six on record. And that’s obviously terrible. 

But hundreds of thousands of people die every single year of lung cancer and other diseases linked to smoking cigarettes and nobody blinks an eye. Why? Because it’s common knowledge and old news at this point. 

Yes, it’s horrible that people are dying, but what did you expect? You’re inhaling a product with a bunch of ingredients that you’ve probably never heard of and cannot pronounce. 

I mean, if we’re considering a flavored vape ban then shouldn’t we ban cigarettes too? Oh, and alcohol. And well we’re at it, why don’t we ban everything that could possibly kill a person, right?  

Oh, that’s right! Six people die and suddenly there’s the need to ban flavored vapes but hundreds can die in mass shootings and apparently that’s alright. Vaping and mass shootings are starkly different topics, of course, but it’s just interesting where our president’s priorities lie. 

In my opinion, it’s absolutely disgusting how quickly Trump has proposed this vape ban after a mere handful of deaths. Yet, literal children can be gunned down in their classroom and that orange goblin doesn’t even blink. 

The state of this country is quite frustrating since vaping is apparently more important than shootings.  

 I do agree that vaping isn’t entirely safe, but neither is smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. Vaping may be killing people, but it should be common sense that inhaling a mix of chemicals and nicotine could quite possibly hurt or kill you. 

A ban is an idea, yes, but not a good one. Bans are generally difficult to pass and even when they are passed, they seldom get rid of the issue at hand. In closing, the president should be focusing on more pressing issues then vaping.

Abigail is a sophomore Mass communications major and President of the BU Democrats.