To be fair, I’m not your average anything. I have multiple – often conflicting – views on a wide range of subjects, most of which will never end up on this blog. When I switched to vaping almost two years ago (June 11th 2014 in case anyone is interested), I had absolutely zero interest in all the nuances of vaping. At all.
I joined some Farcefook groups, engaged with like-minded folks – gamers, geeks, IT people, doctors, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, bloggers, and folk that do weird things on Twitter – people from all walks of life. Different ages – mostly older than me at the time, though there were a few that were younger. The community was, and still is as wide and as varied as the devices folk choose to use.
Yes, I know. Another post on rules and stuff. Sorry about that, but I’ve been doing my usual reading and thinking. I also watched Brexit: The Movie where I discovered a few things I hadn’t known previously – none of which made any kind of difference to how I’m going to be voting, but they were interesting nevertheless.
There’s an awful lot going on in the world of vaping right now. Plenty of shiny new mods to look at, like the Sigelei temperature control mod, there’s a new one coming from VaporShark and so on. I’ll admit to keeping an eye on what is coming after all I did suffer extensively from shinyitus in the early stages of my journey into vaping so I know all too well the attraction of a new shiny. Continue reading “What are we fighting for?”
In a rare moment, I came within a hairs breadth of totally losing my shit on social media recently. Not just a minor spat, but full on warp-core style meltdown. Not aimed at anyone, just endless frustrations boiling over.
There has been a lot going on in and around the community recently, mostly centred around diacetyl and AP in liquids. Well respected names are being called out in a public display of shaming. Yes it is disappointing that diacetyl and AP are still being used, and even more so that juice makers are either hiding or lying about their test results, but that’s not the main reason for the almost melt-down.
No, the cause of this is in fact nothing to do with the industry or community. It is how we are perceived. We have local and State governments declaring that e-cigarettes are equivalent to tobacco. We have these same governments tying vaping into smoke-free laws preventing vapers from being able to vape inside, and some are even looking to ban their use outside. Some are even banning the use of the devices in vape stores.
It is utter insanity, but there is no end to it. In the US alone, many states are proposing or passing legislation that goes further than the FDA deeming. The UK is divided with England, Wales & Scotland all taking substantially different approaches. The EU is a mess and down under is just shambolic.
A few things have hit home for me recently. There is the disappointing lack of support for the Article 20 Legal Challengeespecially from the EU countries. There is the consistent head-in-sand attitude of many vapers, the divide between the on-line communities and the in-fighting.
There are some vapers who win raffles and competitions that decide to sell or trade their prizes. To be honest, I have no real issue with it as such, but many do and I take issue with that. For years I tried to win big prizes (non-vape related) only to have the intention to sell or trade it later. This kind of infighting needs to stop, if nothing else all it is doing is dividing the community even further when we desperately need a united front.
We have many organisations across the globe that are out there doing their damnedest to ensure that vaping as we know it is protected and yes even regulated so that it is safe for all. The New Nicotine Alliance is one such organisation but they have a disappointing level of support.
Let’s be honest, if an organisation said to you “We have the support of 300 people” would you take them seriously? Unlikely. Would you be more willing to listen to an organisation that said “We have the support of 30,000 people” ?
Probably. At last count the Article 20 Legal Challenge had the support of 33,437 across the EU. There are 2.6 MILLION vapers in the UK alone! There is over 10 MILLION worldwide!
Looking at those figures alone makes me feel pretty despondent. Every time legislation is passed that is anti-vaping, it feels like a crushing defeat.
Each jurisdiction that goes down is another lemming in a migration poised to go over the cliff unless we stop the momentum. Those of you sighing in relief that this isn’t your backyard would be smart to step up your game ASAP to get out in front of this. It is almost certainly coming to where you live.
Dangerous precedents are being set in the US with a huge 70% tax on liquids AND devices putting vaping on a par cost-wise to cigarettes! At least one store is going to close because of this.
Wales (UK) are looking to ban the use of vapor products in public places, England have said they have no intentions of doing that. No doubt other US States and the UK will be looking at this with an eye on doing the exact same thing.
I’m not going to give up, far from it. My time and efforts are now going to become far more focussed. I’m already a nuisance to my local MP, I’m going to be even worse now. I’m going to bug my local NHS trust and GP surgery. I’m going to bug anyone and everyone who has even the smallest amount of power or influence. I’m going to encourage as many as I can to support the New Nicotine Alliance. I’ll get medical professionals to join M.O.V.E and finally, I’m going to hound the shit out of everyone to SUPPORT THE ARTICLE 20 LEGAL CHALLENGE.
In case you haven’t seen them:
[widgetkit id=”4″ name=”Supporting”]
In the famous words of Mr Dave Dorn:
Don’t stock up, man up and fight!
Let’s turn this small gathering into this:
It is long past time that every vaper stood up and did something. I believe. Do you?
It is very rare for me to post something whilst I’m still incredibly angry after reading an article. But in this case, I’m going to make a bloody big exception.
For a while now the anti-vapor organisations have been setting a pretty dismal standard in their attempts to either discredit vapers or the vapor market. It seems that there is nothing they won’t do, no low they won’t stoop to.
Just for once, I would dearly love to see a non-profit organisation that actually has some kind of moral standard. The simple fact is, I seriously doubt that any non-profit in the field of anti-tobacco has any kind of morals. At all.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all for a non-profit organisation to actually raise awareness of issues, conduct research, educate the masses and so forth, but there has to be some moral and ethical standard. Continue reading “A day at the races beats a Day at the Capitol”
Advocacy. Such an interesting concept isn’t it? You have one group of folks saying one thing, and another group saying the opposite. Before social media there were unending group meetings, PR, debates and all that jazz. True it was much slower to get the points across, but that didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things as it gave each side a lot of time to come up with something ‘better’. Not to mention getting the face time to get the point across. Continue reading “Excuse me, those are my coat tails…”
Ah social media. Both a boon and a burden. I had the dubious pleasure to be introduced to another anti group yesterday which set me to headbutting my desk repeatedly. I posted a (relatively) short blog yesterday which covered some of their tactics. Continue reading “Stand up, be counted”
