Throwing exceptions in a PHP Try Catch block

Question

I have a PHP function in a Drupal 6 .module file. I am attempting to run initial variable validations prior to executing more intensive tasks (such as database queries). In

Answer 1

throw $e->getMessage();

You try to throw a string

As a sidenote: Exceptions are usually to define exceptional states of the application and not for error messages after validation. Its not an exception, when a user gives you invalid data