My name is Tom and I’d like to start by stating that e cigarettes have changed and potentially saved my life. I started smoking at around 13 years old and became addicted almost immediately. I was at almost 2 packs a day when my brother in law gave my mom his old e cig, which she passed on to me. I liked it, but didn’t love it. That’s when I stopped in a vape shop and noticed how many flavors were available. I grabbed the most appealing flavor and within a few days I had gone from two packs of cigarettes a day, to two single cigarettes a day. Those two cigs a day were simply out of habit, one in the morning and one before bed. After a few weeks I thought to myself, why am I smoking this cigarette? It’s freezing out here and it tastes terrible compared to the e liquid that I can vape right inside. That’s when I decided to stop buying packs of cigs. I bought my last pack on my 27th birthday and when it was empty, I was done with cigarettes and haven’t gone back. I like to research what I’m doing, so naturally I became very active on the Internet to find out everything I could about vaping. That’s when I realized how the government, or big tobacco, or whoever, is trying to demonize something that is helping people to lead healthier lives. In some states they are making it near impossible to open or maintain an e cigarette shop via unfair tax laws and many other legal loopholes I won’t pretend to understand. It just isn’t fair. I can buy cigarettes at nearly any place you can think of : gas stations, convenience stores, grocery stores etc. Many of these places also sell alcohol. Both of these products have been proven deadly and detrimental to society, yet vaping, a healthy alternative to smoking (which doesn’t produce ANY harmful secondhand smoke) is under attack. Vaping may have saved my life, so I figure that the least I could do is try to return the favor. Getting off if cigarettes was one of the best decisions of my life. Unfortunately, I made the decision that I wanted to quit probably about 10 years ago and have tried and failed at least twenty times. Please listen to the voices of people who have changed their lives for the better, and the lives of their loved ones by removing secondhand smoke or that awful smell. Thank you for reading my story, I really hope that this country comes to its senses and sees e cigarettes for what they really are. Life savers.