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Vapers Digest 23rd March

Kevin CrowleyPosted on Posted in Latest News

Monday’s News at a glance:

NZ Risks Australia-Style Tobacco Crime Surge If Harm Reduction Is Ignored ~ Red tape and black markets ~ The Optimism Gap in Tobacco Harm Reduction ~ Australia’s Smoking Reversal: How Policy Missteps and the Black Market Are Driving Cigarette Use Up ~ What’s new in things to do? ~ See Opportunities ~ Nicotine pouches are everywhere, from tech companies to the wellness industry ~ Is Common Sense Coming to the Canadian Nicotine Pouch Market? ~ Why Birds Around the World All Seem to Be Collecting Cigarettes ~ HOW FLAWED SCIENCE FUELS NICOTINE PROHIBITION?

NZ Risks Australia-Style Tobacco Crime Surge If Harm Reduction Is Ignored

Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA), Scoop

CAPHRA says New Zealand risks repeating Australia’s illicit tobacco crisis if politicians and regulators ignore tobacco harm reduction and rely too heavily on restriction, high prices, and enforcement alone.

The warning follows an RNZ report that New Zealand Customs is seeing tobacco smuggling become more organised, large-scale, and sophisticated, with officials concerned New Zealand could follow Australia into gang-linked violence around illicit tobacco.

CAPHRA Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas said the lesson from across the Tasman is clear.

Red tape and black markets

Christopher Snowdon, The Critic

Vaping has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently. Glasgow’s Union Street train station went up in flames and had to be demolished after a nearby vape shop caught fire. A Channel 4 investigation found that children in Dudley are being groomed by the owners of vape shops and mini-marts who allegedly offer them free e-cigarettes for “sexual favours”. And, according to The Sun, young people in Kent are being hospitalised with meningitis after sharing vapes.

The connection with meningitis is pure speculation and eye-witness accounts suggest that the fire in Glasgow was more likely to have been the result of faulty wiring than e-cigarette batteries, but it is all grist to the anti-vaping mill. The sexual exploitation of children is very much illegal, as is selling vapes to people under the age of 18.

Two From Alan Gor

The Optimism Gap in Tobacco Harm Reduction

Recently, I listened to a fascinating conversation between behavioural scientist Arielle Selya and Communications advisor, Jim McCarthy, on a podcast produced by American Vapor Manufacturers.

The discussion covered many familiar topics in the tobacco harm reduction world: the quality of research, the politics of nicotine regulation, and the strange dynamics that shape the scientific literature around vaping. It was thoughtful, at times humorous, and occasionally a little exasperated.

Australia’s Smoking Reversal: How Policy Missteps and the Black Market Are Driving Cigarette Use Up

For decades, Australia was presented as the global success story of tobacco control. Smoking rates steadily declined, and policymakers pointed to high taxes, plain packaging and increasingly strict regulation as proof that the model worked. Australia was frequently held up as an example for the rest of the world. But the narrative that tobacco control had permanently solved the smoking problem is beginning to unravel. Evidence is now emerging that smoking in Australia is rising again. Even more concerning is that some of the institutions that helped shape the current policies appear reluctant to openly confront why this reversal may be happening.

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Nicotine pouches are everywhere, from tech companies to the wellness industry

Devika Rao, The Week US

People agree that smoking is bad for you, but nicotine has far from gone up in smoke. Levels of American adults smoking cigarettes hit a record low in 2024, but nicotine products like vapes, patches and gum are alive and well.

Of the wide array of nicotine products, none have been picking up speed the way pouches like Zyn and On! have. These products are usually the size of a piece of gum and are held in the mouth between the gums and teeth, which slowly releases nicotine into the body. While mainly touted as a method to quit smoking, the pouches have made their way into the wellness spaces and are also being used as a tool to improve concentration.

Global Forum on Nicotine

Governments insist their nicotine policies are “evidence-based.” But a closer look reveals cherry-picked findings, flawed comparisons, and sensational claims that don’t withstand scrutiny. In this GFN interviews, independent tobacco scientist Dr. Ian Fearon explains how weak research and distorted interpretations shape global nicotine policy. From the misuse of correlation to media amplification of questionable studies, Fearon shows how flawed science fuels prohibitionist thinking—leaving smokers misinformed about safer alternatives that could reduce the harms of smoking.

A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…

Vape shops must stay open

New Nicotine Alliance

There is much talk of further measures to control the outbreak of Coronavirus, but closure of vape shops should on no account be considered.

We are living through extraordinary times, with restrictions on personal freedoms – understandably – not seen since the second world war. It is essential that all of us observe the advice of the government, but the NNA hopes that if a rumoured ‘lockdown’ were to happen, vape shops would be excluded on public health grounds.

Coronavirus NOT spread in vape clouds

Coronavirus will not spread in vape clouds unless the user coughs when they exhale, a scientist claims after reports the killer virus lurked in e-ciagrette vapour.

A microbiologist sparked fears last week after warning that inhaling someone else’s vapour was the same as ‘being spat in the face’.

Visit Nicotine Science & Policy for more News from around the World

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