Some heavy smokers who struggle to quit find vaping to be the only alternative that satisfies their craving for nicotine without the harmful tars and other chemicals that years of study tell us cause debilitating, even fatal diseases. And Donald Trump has thus far been their friend and advocate.

In 2019, when then-Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar tried to ban the adult use of flavored e-vapor products, Trump said, “No,” reflecting his understanding that harm reduction plays a crucial role in combating addiction. As it is well understood, e-vapor delivers nicotine in a way less harmful than cigarettes.

The former and now current president knows his voters. Post-election polling data showed adults who vape were more likely to vote for Trump over Clinton and Biden.

These individuals are regular Americans who aspire to healthier lifestyles. Their switch from tobacco to vapor was a step toward a healthier lifestyle. Trump clearly understands the public health benefits of e-cigarettes and the looming political consequences of the “I Vape and I Vote” movement.

Unfortunately, it appears RFK, Jr. doesn’t. He and the “Nannystaters” around him at HHS and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration want to take a page from the same playbook and ban 7-hydroxymitragynine, also called 7-OH, a substance derived from kratom plants that millions of Americans use to wean themselves off opioids.

The agency isn’t weighing the costs against the benefits. Its announcement of the proposed ban evoked the kind of “Big Brotherism” we were warned about in Orwell’s 1984. The idea of a benign, all-knowing leader looking out for our best interests on our behalf sounds good, but anyone who has gone through an airport TSA checkpoint knows no such animal exists anywhere on the planet.

To fight what Azar was doing, vapers rallied outside the White House and flooded social media with their “I vape, I vote” slogan. It forced Trump to step in, preventing an increase in cancer deaths as well as a noticeable revolt within his political base.

He later said he regretted being dragged into the fight, a fact he should remember when the issue of 7-OH is put in front of him, as it no doubt will. He and the other politicians and policy makers who make decisions on our behalf that affect our health and well-being need to remember that we feel very intensely about these issues.

People addicted to heroin and prescription opioids credit kratom and 7-OH with helping them find relief. Trump shouldn’t let his people repeat Azar’s mistakes by ignoring adults who say they rely on 7-OH to prevent relapse. Video testimonials and pleading tweets from consumers all over the country are all over the Internet, and they slam RFK for leaving them without hope and fear that they’ll return to addictions they’d thought they’d left behind.

The proposed ban unites an unlikely coalition of chronic pain patients, veterans, libertarians, and those in recovery. They are organizing political rallies in Florida, where RFK partnered with Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration to ban 7-OH at the state level, and Ohio, where Gov. Mike DeWine took up RFK’s mantle on the issue, only to backtrack in the face of criticism.

Policymakers must respect the rights of adults who rely on 7-OH products while taking steps to keep them safe and out of the hands of minors. Both things can be accomplished, but not by a ban. Anything less than responsible regulation risks igniting a new vape war, reversing a pattern of success in combating the opioid epidemic, and depriving all of us of a little more than our liberties.

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Copyright 2025 Peter Roff distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Peter Roff is former U.S. News and World Report contributing editor and UPI senior political writer now affiliated with several DC-based public policy organizations. He writes for numerous publications and appears regularly on international television talking about U.S. politics. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @TheRoffDraft.