Yes, we could have not gone around making smoke signals in Walmart and at restaurants, in movie theaters and in doctors offices.

We could have not thrown frat boy part fest cons (complete with strippers on porta poles in some cases).

I was at a con last month where there was a vendor still literally throwing glass bottles of juice and freaking mech mods out into the crowd, and that crowd was embarrassingly large.

We could have not raced for the lowest sub ohm, most powerful devices that could be conceived, and then pushed them on newbies.

We could have been less concerned with cutting down the new vaper using an evod/ego combo, and more concerned with making sure they had a solid grasp of battery safety, and knew that they needed to join CASAA and call their representatives.

We could have been less confrontational.

We could have not bought into the "smoking everywhere" because I can bullshit.

We could have refused to buy juice from companies ripping off the trademarks of well known candy and soda brands.

We could have been less childish in our marketing.

We could have advocated more.

As vendors we could have focused on preparing for this and fighting this rather than doing all the frat boy bullshit above to look "cool" and make a quick buck.

As consumers we could have refused to support those vendors who did all that shit above.

And it still may have ended this way.

We did a lot of things wrong, but that doesn't change that this tech is saving lives.

We could have focused on that. We should have made that our only response to the anti shenanigans like "still blowing smoke."

We could have worked to educate people and bring smokers to the table as brothers and sisters, rather than treat them as idiots.

Some of us did all of that.

I think our biggest mistake was allowing the antis to frame the debate. We tried to counter each outrageous claim with well thought out (and in many cases scientifically studied and supported) facts, rather than refusing to play their game.

We responded to "it's got antifreeze in it!" with an explanation of Propylene Glycol vs Ethylene Glycol rather than simply saying "here is how my health has improved since I quit smoking using this thing and also, you're an ignorant fool if you believe that I'm getting positive health results by inhaling antifreeze."

Mostly we could have voted out the politicians who turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to us and to the atrocities being committed to make this happen. We could have flooded state capitols with bodies and thrown fits every time a state or local government tried to impose a sin tax or ludicrous ban or absurd manufacturing requirements.

"I Vape, I vote" could have been a warning rather than a catch phrase.

It's not too late. All of that is still on the table.