My Vaping Experience

My experience is more rare than most. My interest lies with my career and job creation, more than vaping itself. I graduated from college in 2010. I started vaping in December 2009. After graduating, I moved from New York to North Carolina to pursue a career. I was unemployed for almost 6 months, searching 10 hours per day, 7 days a week for jobs. Not jobs in my field; any job. I was living off of a rapidly depleting graduation gift from my family, which was about $6000. I finally landed a job at a local supermarket. I was a college graduate making $9 an hour at 32 hours per week. For almost 2 years, I was living on tap water and ramen noodles, and living in a cheap apartment in a rough part of town. During this period, I was unable to quit smoking. The only vaping products I had access to were cig-a-likes, which were not enough for me. Eventually I saved enough money for an eGo-style setup, which still was not enough to help me quit. It wasn’t until I bought my first high-voltage mod that I achieved the vaping experience I needed, and I’ve been 100% smoke-free for almost 3 years. Keep in mind, I wasn’t trying to quit. I enjoyed smoking. I knew it was bad for me and I didn’t care. But, because of the endless variety of flavors and devices, vaping turned into more of a hobby for me. It became the insatiable quest for more vapor. After being depressed for nearly 2 years due to my college degree that didn’t mean anything to employers and my low pay and impoverished lifestyle, a job became available at my local vape shop. I was interviewed and hired on the spot, and it was one of the happiest days of my life. I was able to go into work and give my manager my 2 week’s notice. I started working at the vape shop shortly after, and after only 3 months, I was the manager of one of their retail stores. About 5 months after that, I was again promoted, this time to the offices/warehouse as Product Development Manager, where I work presently. I’m in charge of researching new products and keeping my company on the cutting-edge of this rapidly evolving market. And that brings us to today. I’m worried. With these new FDA regulations, I’m uncertain if I’ll have a job tomorrow. This regulation is going to stop innovation in its tracks and make my job obsolete. I have enough money to pay the bills, but not enough to save. If either my girlfriend or I lose our jobs, we will be forced to break the lease on our apartment, sell one of our cars and live out of a cardboard box. I’m trying to create a future for myself and my girlfriend. We want to get married, have children and live the good old American Dream. Unfortunately, our own government is turning that dream into a nightmare. The proposed legislation and lengthy, expensive fees will put my company, and every other company, out of business. We have over 5000 products. How can we be expected to submit applications, at about $10 Million apiece, for each and every one of these products? Nobody can afford that….except for Big Tobacco. They have 2 flavors, 3 nicotine strengths. That’s a total of 6 applications they will be required to submit, and the cost won’t even make a dent for them. People talk about our $2 Billion industry like it’s just one company. It’s not. It’s hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses that employ average people that just want to make an honest living. I have worked extremely hard to get where I am today. I’m not a fat-cat. I make $35,000 per year. I just want enough money to have a decent house and raise a family. Every day, the outlook gets bleaker. I can’t see any point in the foreseeable future where I will have enough money to make my dream a reality. I don’t have any other marketable skills. I know vaping and I love vaping. It’s not as if I can switch to a different industry, because vaping is so unique. If the proposed ruling gets passed, it will destroy my future. And my life, because I will go back to smoking. Vaping has allowed me, and many family members and friends, to quit smoking. It has provided me with a career, rather than just a job to pay the bills. It offers me a chance to have a wife and family. I honestly have no idea where else I could get a job with my skills. The only option that would work is to go back to the supermarket, and that is not an option. I would rather work at McDonald’s. So there you have it. Vaping has changed my life. It has gotten me to quit smoking without even trying. It gave me a job, then a career path, and the hope of one day living the American Dream. And now, the American government is coming to take the American Dream away from me. Just as a side note, I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Art in 2010. I searched high and low for almost 3 years to find a job related to my field. I don’t have enough work experience. I am un-hireable. In this day and age, finding a job is about 2 things: work experience and who you know. I don’t know anyone that can get me a job, and as I said, I have no work experience. I don’t have money saved up to where I can work a non-paid internship. I need to get paid. My particular situation may be unique, but I want to give you a real person’s concerns about FDA regulation. There are millions of people that found a place in the world because of the vaping industry. Small businesses are popping up all over the place. All these people will soon find themselves with nowhere to turn. Others may have former colleagues that can help find them jobs, or may have had a career in another field before determining that vaping was a better option, career-wise. For me, that is not the case at all. You are hearing from someone that could not find a job fresh out of college in any field other than retail. I was no better than a high-school dropout, except I had student loans to pay. This proposed rule will ruin many small businesses and careers, and in my case, it will even destroy lives and livelihood. I hope this does not fall on deaf ears, because I honestly feel helpless. I feel like nothing I say will make a difference and that my own fate is completely out of my hands. How can anyone possibly feel this way in the so-called “Land of the Free”?