Non smokers are the key to saving vaping. As vapers, we are constantly trying to get smokers away from combustible cigarettes and offer them a less harmful alternative. At the same time, we are in Government houses around the world trying to keep this industry separate from tobacco laws so that current smokers will have access to the same help and equipment that we once had. Many vapers are unaware that we are fighting a war on many fronts, and of the ones that are, there are too many who believe that we are an untouchable industry.
The trouble with this is, on an almost daily basis we are seeing new laws and legislation pass that are eroding our freedom as vapers, and before long we will have no more room to maneuver.
We Are Less Than 2% Of The American Population
In a population of 330+ million people, our approximation of 5 million regular vapers is literally a blip on the radar that the other 98% do not care to see disappear. While we are running around patting each other on the back because we were able to cease smoking by vaping, most people actually believe that the use of e-cigarettes is more dangerous than tobacco. They see studies on Facebook and reports on the evening news about the latest horror story to come out of a laboratory. They don’t understand that those studies were paid for by the very people they should be fighting against, and by people who have no issue in allowing millions more to die so they can still turn a profit. These people believe that we are Big Tobacco and have no interest in our claims of harm reduction, because they have been programmed to read a headline and believe it.
How Can We Change The Playing Field
Swaying public opinion is never an easy task, especially when the deck has been stacked against you by giant corporations with enough money to sweep all their indiscretions under the rug. A UK study showed that 60% of current smokers and 85% of non smokers believe that vaping is more dangerous than cigarette smoking, but a recent government turn around is helping to educate the population correctly, letting people know that while they still do not consider vaping to be completely safe, it is 95-98% less harmful than combustible tobacco and should be considered a form of tobacco harm reduction.
Here in the US, a government turn around is highly unlikely, due to the massive revenue losses that would be suffered by the states if the tobacco giants went out of business. This is still a tool we can use in our arsenal to educate the population.
To the non smoker, a vaping device is just a new fancy toy that gives people another way to smoke, and smoking is bad so it must be stopped. What they don’t understand is that with this technology, smoking may disappear by itself, along with the majority of the smoking related diseases that have plagued society for the last couple of hundred years.
We Are All Great At Preaching To The Choir
If you are reading this article, I can almost guarantee that you are already a vaper and you are nodding your head in agreement. I am preaching to the choir and this is something we need to change. I can count the prominent out spoken vapers known in the mainstream on one hand. We need to get our story out to those who aren’t already on our side in such a way that they question the lies they have been told in the last few years and wonder why their Governments would wish to squash an industry that has the potential to eradicate a the combustible tobacco plague.
Improve The Way The World Views Vaping
As a single human, there’s plenty that you can do to improve the way we are perceived by the world. The next time you see a horror story on Facebook, rather than commenting on the story, email the person who shared it with you and give them a reason to take it down. 
Sometimes it is as simple as sharing an article that refutes the “study” they just shared and an explanation of why sharing that study is harmful, not to the industry, but to everyone. Every time we comment on or share an article just to say how much we disagree with it, we are doing the job of the people who want to make vaping disappear by putting their viewpoint in front of people. In the last week I have had several articles shared with me on social media, which were very quickly removed and replace with pro-vaping news. It isn’t that the person who originally shared it with you wants to harm us, 9 times out of 10 it’s because no one has taken the time to tell them the truth.
Another, very important thing you can do is think before you vape. Don’t be the guy that gets called out on social media for vaping in the produce aisle in Wal-Mart. As much as we hate it, vape in the area designated for smoking and don’t blow clouds in restaurants or an area that the general public can create a negative image with. If we can turn around our image with the non smoking public, they will become very powerful allies in our fight against Government regulations that threaten to destroy the industry before it has the chance to do the job it was invented for. With every person who see’s the human effect of smoking, there is a chance to show them the potential impact that vaping has on the future.
Take the time to pass your story around, we all have them, not to your vaping friends but to the people who would sit here and tell us what we are doing is wrong. Each heart and mind that joins us in our fight is one step closer to winning the war. The road will be long and arduous, but if we all band together vaping can be victorious.
As always, enjoy your vaporizer and vape safe!
