Being lit is the problem

Switched from smoking to vaping? Here's where science and the law stand on the use of e-cigarettes

- Urvee Modwel

Mushroom clouds have never signified anything good. The ones that emerge from e-cigarettes or vapes are no different. Yet, all over the country, Indians happily vape away. The devices were banned in 2019, based on recommendations by the Indian Council for Medical Research, but people have somehow found ways to buy, use, even refill them.

It's young people with higher education who vape the most, says a study by the George Institute for Global Health, India, published in Preventive Medicine Reports in 2023. "The most commonly reported reason for this is a friend used them," says Dr Thout Raj, research fellow, in the study.

But most unmodified e-cigs (the ones that don't contain cannabis-derived psychoactives) are safer than cigarettes. This is simply because they do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two extremely harmful elements in tobacco smoke. So, people who vape tend to use it as a way to quit traditional cigarettes. It only means they're giving up one addiction for another, say doctors from Johns Hopkins on their website.

Avoid cigarettes, certainly. Don't pick up the e-cig either. Here's what vaping means for health, what it means in the eyes of the law, and what comes next.