E-Cigarettes In New Mexico

With the popularity of e-cigarettes, there has been an increase in nicotine poisoning in the state of New Mexico and across the United States over the past few years. An e-cigarette is a portable, battery operated devise that converts liquid nicotine and concentrated liquid flavors into a vapor that the user can inhale. The e-cigarette is being marketed as an alternative means to smoking an actual cigarette. Cigarettes have been known to use harmful chemicals to maintain freshness in the tobacco that an individual is smoking. Electronic cigarettes have been advertised as a safer means of eliminating the need for harsh chemicals while maintaining the ability to inhale nicotine. (Hunt, 2014) Since the disbursement of e-cigarettes, they have become …show more content…
A more shocking development was the fact that vaporizers were initially not covered under any federal law which made them able to be sold to minors (under 18) in most states. In lieu of federal legislation, many states began passing their own laws prohibiting the sale to minors and the use of e-cigarettes in public settings as well. The state of New Mexico was among the latest states that passed such a law on 20 March 2015. (Hanson …show more content…
As legislation slowly emerged, more minors were exposed to the possibility of purchasing a nicotine vaporizing device. Today, while the statistics are often unclear, there has been a drastic rise in the use of electronic vaporizers over conventional cigarettes and cigars by teens. (CDC 2015) As e-cigarette manufacturers advertise, these devises produce no smoke, no ash, contain no tar, and can be virtually odorless; which make it very difficult to notice if a minor has been smoking. Furthermore, the liquid nicotine the devices use are often in concentrated bottles that range from 12mg to 36mg of nicotine. As calls to poison control centers continue to rise due accidental nicotine poisoning, it is not difficult to see why. The CDC estimates the lethal dose of nicotine to be approximately 60mg, for an average adult. (CDC 2014) Depending on the user’s tolerance for nicotine, it can theoretically range from 0mg-60mg. if the user purchases the highest concentration of nicotine in a 10 ml bottle, they have just purchased 360mg of nicotine. Inhaling such a high concentration by someone who is not used to it might cause some irritation in the throat, but continuous inhalation of a highly concentrated dose of nicotine will cause