from her mom. Since then I've done a lot of research about them.
Check out this site:
http://www.ecigarettes365.com/forum/My goddaughter was diagnosed last year with schizophrenia after having a psychotic breakdown after Christmas 2008 and last year she was hospitalized 13 times at 7 different. She became a heavy smoker, but then I found that up to 90% of schizophrenics are smokers which is far higher than the national average. As it turns out they are self medicating because the nicotine actually helps their thinking, but there is a huge health cost. Ironically their lung cancer rate is lower than the national average, but there are many others bad things such as heart disease. Couple this with the now high cost of cigarettes and the fact that many schizophrenics have low incomes, this means they spend a high percentage of their income on tobacco.
E-cigarettes allow her to get the nicotine she craves, as do all smokers, but which also aids in her thinking and they do not have all the bad things of regular cigarettes. Hers are the Smoke 51 brand and she likes them so far, but at the above site you can find reviews of different brands. Her e-cigarettes look exactly like a regular cigarette, it is white, the end glows orange when she takes a drag, and she does exhale, but it is mostly water vapor. People should be able to use e-cigarettes where smoking is not allowed, but if you want to do that I would opt for one with a blue tip because obviously that is not a real cigarette.
Although they are not intended to use for smoking cessation, I have read of people who have used them for than purpose since they come in different levels of nicotine allowing the user to step down.
Here is a YouTube video of the Smoke 51 brand:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/video-reviews/4488-leafords-smoke-51-video-review-demo.html