Successful meeting with my MP

[hgvroy]

I have just had an extremely fruitful meeting with my MP John Pugh (Lib Dem)
Sat down with him and plonked my e-cig (Ego vision 1000) down on his desk along with a bottle of HS delight which he was extremely interested in and proceeded to tell him of "my journey" with e-cigs.
I then told him about the impending tobacco products directive (which he had not heard about) and had a good half hours discussion with him.
The out come was that he is 100% behind us and was quite perplexed why the EU was getting involved and regulating for regulation sake (his words), at which point I mentioned Big Pharma etc which he took on board.
I told him about harm reduction and explained the ludicrous situation that if this ban comes into effect 750,000 people who are now vaping in the UK will go back to smoking over night, to which he wholeheartedly agreed with.
He is now going to write to the department of health and will be speaking to our MEP and also bringing the subject up with a couple of ministers.
He seemed genuinely pleased to run with this and will be keeping me informed, so all in all it went very well and we seem to have another influential ally

[beautycat]

That's fantastic, you must have come across very well too

[Karma]

Well done Roy and thanks for letting us know

[robby]

Well done Roy, sounds like a very productive and informative meeting

[Rybes]

thats exceelnt mate. you mustve put ya point across well

[Deleted]

good man

[Banky]

Well done Roy, good on ya m8.

[scaffman69]

Good effort Roy, nice one.

[jax]

Sounds like a really good meeting, well done Roy!

[Deleted]

Nice one Roy ... Lets hope future follow ups are just as positive

[jakethevape]

You do understand that if there is 750,000 esmokers in the UK then only 100,000 signatures are required to get this into a debate in parliament.

Or am I a bit behind on the whole legal element of things?.

[chykensa]

Excellent result Roy, well done for following this through, and having such a productive meeting. It's great to know that your MP at least has taken the time to become educated by a dedicated user rather than reading a few bits of out-dated and mis-informed press.
Let's hope he makes enough ripples for a few of his colleagues to stand up and start asking questions too!
Jake - you have a good point there - is there such a petition, or should we see about starting one? I haven't the foggiest idea how to start, but I'm sure one of you does!
Andy

[Matt Gluggles]

Well done mate, good work !

[hifistud]

Excellent news, and well done. Let's hope everybody does the same!!

On the petitions front, there really isn't the time to go through the whole thing - this nonsense starts its passage through the EU process on Feb 25th - See the programme below for what needs doing:

[jakethevape]

Jan 19, 2013 15:17:52 GMT chykensa said:

Jake - you have a good point there - is there such a petition, or should we see about starting one? I haven't the foggiest idea how to start, but I'm sure one of you does!
Andy

Here is the link: epetitions.direct.gov.uk/

Anyone can create a petition. And the government have no option but to debate it in parliament until a decision has been made. Also I would suggest that IF it was able to get the desired numbers that as many people as possible arrange a trip to London to help promote this. The more News channels that are informed and the correct people who are good at speaking the better. It needs to be led by someone with good charisma (silver tongue).

The more people in the know, the more of a stand off we have against the EU because it is the Tobacco companies that are lobbying for this regulation along with the pharmaceutical companies. The have more money than any of us can dream of and more money than ANY ecig foundation could raise. They also have the worlds best lawyers / lobbyists and would not bat an eye lid at paying top people off to ensure they get their way.

From their point, if millions of people end up using ecigs they will loses billions. That is not an option for the greedy share holders and directors so they WILL fight it with every single penny they have.

So as you can see in black and white there is a huge mountain to tackle with this (Dont mean to put a downer on anything).

We are in a new age where we can communicate with pretty much all parts of the globe, for the first time we are now able to take on "the man" because WE are connected, WE cant be silenced and WE can be the voice that is heard NOT "The man". But that is not enough to make sure the future of esmoking is kept the way it is. ANY influential people must be in the know, people in legal services, government's etc need to be on our side. There is no middle ground because at the end of the day if it did indeed end up close to a banning legislation it would be supported by the big corporations who are the very people who pay the likes of Labor/Conservatives in "donations" IE: backroom deals to get their way.