The Right To Vape Coalition, consisting of representatives from the American Vaping Association (AVA), Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA), and the Smoke Free Alternative Trade Association (SFATA) has spent the month of October packed into a vinyled out RV to deliver their message to people across the United States. Those involved in the advocacy community know this message very well, but there are millions of others that have no clue about the war that vapers are fighting on a daily basis — the Right To Vape Tour has aimed to change that at every level. The goal is to convince congress to change the FDA’s predicate date from 2007 to the day the FDA regulations took effect on the vaping industry, to help lawmakers see the error in the defacto ban on life changing vapor technology, and to change public opinion of vaping from the ground up.
The Story So Far
Starting off on the west coast, the team hit locations across California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and even made an impromptu pit-stop in Idaho. As a way to document the journey and to allow people who can’t make it to each individual stop, the crew has been publisher videos of their journey along the way.
Whether the stops are planned in advance to draw crowds or simply opportunities to get their message across, it seems like those involved with the Right To Vape Tour are set on pushing this message at every turn. Stopping by at the American Cancer Society headquarters with letters from vapers is just one of the many avenues they have taken, each designed to aid in the goal of ending the war against vapor technology.
Each stop has drawn crowds of enthusiastic vapers, politicians, and members of the public alike, starting with one view of vaping and leaving with an entirely different mindset. In Wisconsin, the tour was joined several times by Senator Ron Johnson — a man who has been an instrumental voice in the battle so far.
In the last few days the bus has appeared across Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Two of them are battleground states where insanity has already taken hold. Politicians who believe more in the power of the tax dollar than the health and well-being of the folks who pay them running amuck, one going as far as calling vaping as dangerous as the cigarettes that caused her husband’s fatal throat cancer — and these are the people whose minds the tour was created to change.
This tour, in conjunction with the global release of the documentary “A Billion Lives” has a monumental task, separating fact from the fiction created by multinational corporations and public health advocates that care more about their pocket books than the people, and they have already begun to create ripples in the ocean of misinformation.
It Isn’t Over Yet
To catch up with the latest news from the tour, make sure you follow the Right To Vape Tour’s facebook page for upcoming dates as they head for the final furlough into the north-east and descend on DC. In addition, join CASAA for information on everything advocacy related, and make sure your voice is heard in the fight to save vaping.
