With uncertainty clouding the future and a general malaise lingering in the vaping community, what do we need to blow out the cobwebs and get everyone excited again? Road trip! Three vaping advocacy groups are teaming up with Americans for Tax Reform and taking their act on the road in October. They’ll be hitting cities across the country to organize and promote interest in changing the predicate date in the deeming regulations, and generally spreading the truth about vaping. According to the website, The Right to Vape Tour is “a nationwide grassroots campaign and bus tour led by a coalition of small businesses, consumers, trade associations, and public policy organizations. The Right to Vape coalition is organizing a series of press conferences, rallies, and town halls aimed at urging Congress to bring an end to the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory war on vaping. The campaign launches in October.” The vaping organizations leading the tour are the American Vaping Association (AVA), ConsumerAdvocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (CASAA), and Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA).

This is a chance to support an effort to get the word out to non-vapers.

“We’re excited to be a part of the coalition launching The Right To Vape Tour,” CASAA executive director Julie Woessner told Vaping360 yesterday. “It’s a grassroots campaign whose goal is to push for a change in the federal predicate date for vapor products.” “The effort will organize both businesses and consumers for events in at least 15 states this October,” said Woessner. “The tour is part of a continuing effort to educate Congress on the devastating impact of the FDA’s war on vaping.” The stops on the tour haven’t been finalized yet, but essentially it’ll start in the west and work its way east, eventually landing in Washington, D.C. Rumor is there’s a large vehicle involved.

October is going to be fun. We've got a 37 foot RV... https://t.co/VvZwQ51wHA — Paul Blair (@gopaulblair) September 2, 2016

What can vapers do?

You can sign up for e-mail updates at the Right To Vape website. That way you’ll get notifications when the tour comes to a city near you. You can follow the tour on Facebook and Twitter too. They’ll be posting pictures and news from events as they cross the country, and live video on Facebook. Businesses and organizations interested in sponsoring the tour can e-mail [email protected] How better to show that your business supports vaping advocacy? The Right To Vape Tour needs funding from vapers too. They’ve already raised over $100,000 of the $225,000 they’ll need to complete the tour. Why should you help? Because this is a chance to support an effort to get the word out to non-vapers. We need help from the general public, people who don’t know the whole story. But to get them interested, we need to tell them what’s happening with the FDA, and why vaping matters to the future of public health.