Misuse of Technology

Within the last few years, some of the most potentially useful technology for medical use has gained wide popularity, especially among teens.  E-Cigarettes have become more popular than traditional cigarettes among teens in the U.S.  These high tech cigarette replacements vaporize water containing nicotine and sometimes flavorings or aromas, for inhalation.  They are safer than traditional cigarettes which also contain tobacco tar, toluene, and other dangerous substances, but there is no evidence that e-cigarettes are any less addictive than traditional tobacco.  This is a shameful and stigmatizing use of a technology that could be very valuable in modern medicine.

Many types of medication have been found to be more potent and effective when inhaled as a vapor.  Several anti-histamines are commonly administered as a nasal spray to take advantage of the ability of mucous membranes to absorb medications quickly.  Inhaled medications (steroid vapors, for instance) are an essential part of long term asthma treatment.  In theory, many other kinds of medications could benefit from a vapor delivery system.  The problem now, however, is that every e-cigarette will be assumed to be charged with nicotine.  The most valuable uses of these devices will stigmatize patients, and they will like be banned from schools and similar public places, regardless of their medical value.  A track record of this has already been established in a few instances where insulin was banned in certain public schools, because the hypodermic needles used in administering the life sustaining drug are the same as needles used in administering heroin.  E-Cigarettes are likely to share the same fate, only this time, the medical industry as a whole may choose to avoid the use of this incredibly valuable technology, because its first public use was to administer nicotine.

E-Cigarettes are some awesome technology, and they could easily be the realization of futuristic drug administration, for completely legitimate pharmaceuticals.  They could make a number of vapor born drugs that are currently difficult to administer easier and cheaper to use.  E-Cigarettes might even use useful as an alternative means of administering certain vaccines.  These devices should be the next medical break through.  Vapor administration of legitimate pharmaceuticals could be easier and safer than current means, and we should be taking advantage of this technology for something good.