12 step meetings where vaping is allowed Or starting one?

[Simon82895]

Back when I got sober in 1995 there was still smoking allowed at most meetings. One of my first jobs in my group was putting out and cleaning ash trays. As the meeting progressed it kind of reminded me of the many Grateful Dead concerts I had attended in a 20 year span. However nowadays smoking at meetings is pretty much non existent, especially depending upon the state you live in. At least here in the U.S. Being relatively new to vaping I see a few people in my area here in New Jersey that vape. However they are still outside hanging with the smokers. I wonder if vaping would be allowed in a church basement or hall where most meetings are held. I suppose that would be up to the individual Pastor or Reverend that runs the church. I have been to meetings held at clubs, rescue squads, hospitals, Salvation Army on West 48th St in Manhattan, courtrooms (which is kind of creepy). Maybe I can start one at my apartment? Don't know how my wife would feel about that, but I am trying to get her into vaping full time. I gave her one of my eGo-Ts and she likes it. And she happens to be sober as well so why not.


Anyway I was wondering if there are and vapers out there that have tried to vape at meetings and were told no you can't do that here it's still smoking. Of course please no full names in responses. After all it IS anonymous.

 

[steved5600]

Hello fellow 12 stepper. They banned smoking long before I joined my group. But you can still see the yellow/white walls and the smoke filters. We do get to vape but are under attack by the Contempt prior to investigation types. One person I believe. We vape mostly in the meeting before and after the meeting but do it openly in Lit study. We stealth vape in regular meetings and try to hide in corners away from the previously mentioned types. I believe it may come up at a group conscience meeting though. Thing is unless there is a City or building ban it would be hard to enforce as it is hard/near impossible to get kicked out of a group. Vape on. Signed a FOB.

 

[Pocha]

Well...I recently joined by boyfriend at a meeting...a small one in San Francisco and a guy there was stealth vaping a little. No one said anything but WE noticed. But this is SF so who knows...?

 

[Simon82895]

That is a good idea about a group conscious meeting. My group is pretty liberal in the sense you are allowed to talk about the "drugs" word at an AA meeting. Even though we try to respect Tradition 3 as much as possible. I can vape at work and no one bothers me.

 

[SpicyMcHaggis]

I stealth vape at meetings. I found that if I just hold it in for a real long time nothing exhales. I've also converted about 20 AA's over to vaping. It's a regular sight to see a bunch of us vaping at our local clubhouse.

 

[DasBluCig]

IMHO.....group conscience is the way to go re: "rules" at meetings....
Years ago....one of my groups had to "vote" to limit one of our members access to certain areas of the meeting hall (he'd been caught stealing food from the Community Pantry!!).....
Another Friend of Bill W.

 

[JoryPeltier]

I usually wait until after the meeting and go outside so i dont distract others. I like the idea of bringing it up at a group conscience meeting though.

 

[suspectK]

It depends on your ratio to old timers and younpeeps. I was in Prescott, AZ for quite some time, and vaping and recovery go hand in hand out there. It started to get a little crazy from how many people would be vaping, and some of the meetings are 200+ there. The people that quit smoking years back got ......, and they started screaming how they've eliminated nicotine from their life..blah, blah, blah.

All the meetings here allow vaping. Carto-tanks can be pretty loud, so when I was still going to meetings, I would try to do it as quiet as possible. I tend to go to AA, but when I'd be in NA, I didn't like the idea of having a sound similar to what some illicit substances sound like when smoked..

Group conscience is how things get done. Do it to it. You can always start your own meeting, and then, you can 'fix the voting ballots.' Having friends help you start a meeting will ensure your vote counts even more..