I was a smoker for 8 years. I quit many times. A day here… A week there… Almost 2 weeks, but I just could not kick the habit. Today, I have been smoke-free for 9 months. That is 4,210 cigarettes, that I would have smoked, I was able to avoid and I owe it all to electronic cigarettes. I smoked a pack a day. I constantly smelled and I could not go an hour without stepping outside for a cigarette. I was addicted. There is no way around it, I had a problem. It didn’t matter how many pictures I saw of black lungs or how many stories I read on all the tobacco related deaths, I wanted a cigarette and by golly, I was going to have one. Even working in healthcare and seeing the effects of smoking on a daily basis did not phase me. That is how addictive cigarettes are, they made me not care about the quality or length of my life. Like many smokers, I was ashamed of my habit and I tried every solution to quit. I was allergic to the adhesive on the patches, so they were absolutely out of the picture. The gum, even at the highest nicotine level, just never seemed to work. I tried Snus one time, but that made me so sick to my stomach I was back to cigarettes within 24 hours. My doctor told me that Chantix had too many side effects and to just go back to the gum. I decided to try electronic cigarettes. I am glad I did. I started on 24 mg of nicotine and completely quit the use of all tobacco products. Over the course of 9 months, I have tapered down to 6 mg. In the beginning, even with the use of an electronic cigarette, I did have withdrawal symptoms. Cigarettes have so many addictive ingredients and electronic cigarettes have only one of those, so it was to be expected that I would crave cigarettes in the beginning. However, that is the only negative side effect I had when starting with an electronic cigarette and those cravings were gone within a matter of days. I have, however, had many positive outcomes from my switch to vaping: I have not had an asthma flare-up in 9 months. I can breathe better. I don’t have a nagging cough any more. No more green phlegm! I have far fewer headaches. I can exercise for more than 5 minutes before getting short of breath. Best of all, I am not killing my loved ones with second hand smoke. Electronic cigarettes are life savers. Rather than punishing users and taking away an effective quitting alternative, I believe adults should be educated on the option of using quality electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation device. Thank you for reading my story.