Nicotine Science and Policy

Estonia’s Ministry of Justice has proposed allowing all prisoners to use nicotine pouches and bring them to visitations, matching permissions granted to Swedish inmates at Tartu Prison. The change would avoid difficult searches and unnecessary confiscation, storage, and return procedures.

The draft also introduces risk-based nighttime supervision. Hourly checks would remain mandatory for prisoners under locked-cell regimes, in disciplinary confinement, or identified as suicide risks. Other prisoners would be checked only when security or safety concerns arise. Staff could still inspect any cell when behavior, sounds, or other circumstances warrant it. The proposal aims to reduce unnecessary workload and disturbances to prisoners’ rest and privacy.

At the 2nd National Summit on Nicotine and Harm Reduction in Pasay City on October 1, consumer groups, industry representatives and medical experts urged evidence-based, risk-proportionate taxation and regulation of smoke-free nicotine products. As the Philippine government considers policy changes for vaping and heated tobacco products, participants argued that these alternatives should not automatically face the same taxes as combustible cigarettes, citing differences in associated risks. They also called for stronger enforcement against illicit trade and youth access while preserving regulatory distinctions between combustible and smoke-free products.

The author argues that tobacco harm reduction (THR) should extend beyond helping current smokers switch to lower-risk nicotine products. US data show stable overall nicotine use alongside declining smoking and rising vaping, particularly among young adults. The author interprets these trends as suggesting that vaping may divert some people from smoking, although population trends alone cannot establish causation. THR could therefore include switching, maintaining smoking abstinence, and preventing smoking among would-be smokers. Whether vaping benefits never-smokers depends on whether they would otherwise smoke or remain nicotine-free. The author recommends broader messaging, research, and population models examining these counterfactuals to sustain THR’s relevance as cigarette smoking declines.

Ian Irvine argues that Canada’s restrictions on nicotine pouches undermine smoking cessation by making lower-risk alternatives harder to buy than cigarettes. He criticizes the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit’s opposition to nicotine substitution, advocating harm reduction rather than eliminating all nicotine use. Citing vaping initiatives in New Zealand and the UK, alongside declining smoking rates in Sweden and Norway, he urges Ottawa to improve access to pouches, vapes and heated tobacco products. Although nicotine causes dependence, Irvine maintains that these alternatives pose substantially lower health risks than smoking. The article discloses that some of his research received tobacco-policy foundation funding and that nicotine producers covered conference expenses.

Recent arrests in Hyderabad reveal that India’s vape ban has not prevented teenagers from accessing e-cigarettes through illicit suppliers. The article argues that prohibition sustains an underground market lacking age checks, product standards and marketing oversight, while denying adult smokers legal access to potentially less harmful alternatives to cigarettes. It advocates distinguishing youth protection from adult harm reduction through regulation, including age verification, advertising restrictions and penalties for sales to minors. Enforcement remains necessary, but success should be measured by reduced underage access and smoking-related harm, not raids or seizures. A regulated approach, the author suggests, could offer greater oversight than a blanket ban.