It seems like once a year, it is the people who vape are punished for their personal decisions when seeking a better alternative to smoking.  Imagine if electric cars were charged an extra tax because they made less and more danger for pedestrians, when inexperienced drivers are backing out of a parking spot.  Imagine if that tax was paid right back to gasoline companies. 

As ludicrous as that sounds, there are probably people who would support that.  Guess which people they would be?

Also, if I told that tax actually exists, would you believe me?

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Lucky for us, we live in a world where it is easy to be skeptical of the things we see and hear.  I don’t know if that electric car tax actually exists, but if it did I would not be surprised.  I think that most of the laws written that govern people are well-intentioned (or at least they started that way), but I do believe that many of them are just business deals that are of no benefit to the people at all.

What really woke me up had nothing to do with vaping industry – it was the weed industry.  The public (at least in my state) voted to decriminalize the use of recreational marijuana, which was a victory for the voters.  The state then turns around and bans CBD, which is ingredient in marijuana that is of medicinal use.  The law is implying that smoking weed for its recreational properties (ie. getting high) is okay, but for those that only seek pain relief without the trip – they are criminals.

How do you justify that?  There is no way that this law is meant to “protect” the people. 

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I’m not an optimistic person but I do think that there is good in the bad.  Regulating an industry legitimizes it.  Ideas can be brought to the table and hopefully good science won’t be ignored.

I would gamble to say that most people aren’t stupid – but they can be misled.  Sometimes intentionally.

I do believe that rational people and rational thinking will win out.  Hitting the industry with regulation and restriction will hurt people the most, and will also force businesses out of the game.  But those that adapt will survive. 

I hope that those who vape realize they are ambassadors to all people that vape, whether or not they like it.  If one person who vapes happens to also be a jerk, people will argue that all people that vape are jerks. 

I hope that those who don’t smoke would take a few seconds to think about what it must be like to be a smoker who is trying to quit.

Never lose sight of the original “premise” of vaping.  It was that it worked.  And it does. The proof is all around you and you can talk to it.  This is the part that doesn’t get mentioned enough – the part that we take for granted, and the part that tobacco companies hate to admit.

Until whenever,
Scottie(the)goonie