- Details
- Category: March 2021
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just announced it will pursue a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes. Menthol cigarettes, which currently make up around a third of the cigarette market, are disproportionately used by Black Americans. While proponents of the ban claim that a menthol prohibition is a matter of racial justice, the reality is that such a ban will most likely contribute to overcriminalization in Black communities already struggling to determine the role that policing should play in their neighborhoods.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Adolescents and teenagers who experiment with marijuana and prescription drugs are more likely to get hooked on them than young people who try these drugs for the first time when they are college-aged or older, according to a new analysis of federal data.
The research suggests that young people may be particularly vulnerable to the intoxicating effects of certain drugs, and that early exposure might prime their brains to desire them. The findings have implications for public health policymakers, who in recent years have called for increased screening and preventive measures to reverse a sharp rise in marijuana vaping among teenagers.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Vaping captures headlines in the United States, where outcry over a perceived youth “epidemic” drives health misinformation and efforts to restrict products that could save smokers’ lives—with international implications.
But tobacco harm reduction’s most important battleground, where more than half of the world’s smokers live, is Asia. The continent is home to a diverse range of nicotine policies, ranging from innovative approaches that the world should watch to harsh prohibitions.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
The Florida legislature is considering new vaping regulations after a bill to ban flavored vaping products was vetoed by Governor Ron DeSantis last year. The original bill was supported by several public health advocates and anti-vaping activists.
That bill was eventually passed by the House and Senate but was vetoed by DeSantis, who claimed it was too restrictive. [...]
This new bill sponsored by State Rep.Travis Hutson will require vape shops in the state to apply for a special license to sell e-cigarettes. The vape shops will not be required, however, to pay for this fee.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Eight in 10 parents who smoke are worried about setting a bad precedent for their children by smoking or vaping, new research has found. Just under half of the 490 smokers polled say their children have now rumbled parents for their smoking or vaping habits and asked them to quit.
The research by Swedish Match, producer of tobacco-free nicotine pouches ZYN, also revealed more than 41 per cent confess they have resorted to finding new ways to hide their habits in fear of being ticked off by their kids.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Imperial Brands Plc said on Tuesday it is off to a “good start” this year as the maker Gauloises and Winston cigarettes looks to capitalise on higher tobacco prices and “significantly reduced” losses in vaping. On aggregate it has started to increase its tobacco market share in its top five markets with gains in the United States, UK and Spain offsetting declines in Germany and Australia, the FTSE-listed company said. New CEO Stefan Bomhard two months ago laid out a five-year plan that focuses investment on five markets that generate 72% of its profits.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
A plant-based medication may be the solution to nicotine and cigarette addiction, and an ASU professor is helping lead the study.
Scott Leischow, director and professor at the College of Health Solutions, is heading the Arizona site for a clinical trial on the naturally occurring smoking cessation drug cytisinicline. According to Achieve Life Sciences CEO John Bencich, the Phase 3 ORCA-2 clinical trial is being run across 15 centers around the U.S. and the company hopes to enroll 750 participants in the 12-week trial. Leischow said people are paid up to $1,950 as compensation for participating in the study [...]
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Last week, Statistics Canada reported that Canadians in their twenties are butting out at an unprecedented rate. Smoking among them fell from 13.3 percent to a mere 8 percent – a 40-percent drop – between 2019 and 2020 according to the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey.
This is a historic achievement and augurs well for Health Canada’s smoking prevalence target of 5 percent for 2035. Since smoking among those aged 15-19 is currently no more than 5 percent, that cohort has already reached the 2035 target – 14 years before the due date, and the 20-24 group is not far away.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
The Cancer Society has today launched a petition calling for a significant reduction in the number of stores that are able to sell tobacco. Between 3000 and 4000 shops sell tobacco in New Zealand, but the society would like that to drop as low as 200.
It said only drastic action can help the country reach its Smokefree 2025 goal, and combat health issues which kill up to 11 people a day. More than half a million adults are thought to be smokers in New Zealand, and each year about 4000 people die from smoking-related issues.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Anti-tobacco campaigners have vowed to oppose any mutilation of the Tobacco Control Act to favour the sale of banned nicotine pouch Lyft in Kenya.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance accused the Lyft manufacturer, BAT, of trying to amend laws to suit its 'highly addictive' narcotic product.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe stopped the sale of the nicotine pouches in September 2020, because they were illegally allowed in Kenya by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) and were being sold to minors.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
A majority of Malaysians, representing 80%, want the government to take more action to regulate the vaping industry of Malaysia.
A poll titled Malaysian Insights & Perspectives on Vape commissioned by the Malaysian Vape Industry Advocacy (MVIA) [...] showed that 76% of respondents agree that the Malaysian economy would benefit from regulations of vaping products.
Malaysian Vape Industry Advocacy president Rizani Zakaria said the opinion poll shows most Malaysians want regulations of vape products.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Last week, dozens of United States Congress members demanded that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) strip flavored vaping products from the market by halting a long-awaited federal product review process.
In March 23 letter to acting FDA commissioner Janet Woodcock and director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products director Mitch Zeller, the representatives wrote that “flavored e-cigarettes are putting a new generation of kids at risk of nicotine addiction and the serious health harms that result from tobacco use.”
- Details
- Category: March 2021
New York state leaders announced an agreement on legislation that would legalize marijuana across the state -- a move they say would create jobs and bring in millions in tax dollars.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Vapes containing nicotine and marijuana are not only being found more often among teens in school, but also in the hands of younger and younger kids.
Traditionally, vapes have contained a nicotine-type product and could be mistaken for USB ports. But a new THC cartridge is a derivative from marijuana and is typically very concentrated.
Scott Vanover, a school resource officer in the Buchanan County R-4 district, said a marijuana cartridge recently was found in a middle school he works in, and it’s a problem seen in every school.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
In this special series of RegWatch, we explore how Bloomberg uses his power and money to backstop a tangled web of philanthropic organizations who cajole, strong-arm or buy-off governments of low and middle-income countries so that they would implement harsh restrictions, taxes, and even bans on low-risk nicotine products, such as vaping.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
More states are on the cusp of marijuana legalization. That in mind, the federal government should carefully observe the policy and political dynamics playing out in Colorado and Washington.
It should look closely at the marijuana industry’s deflection of any responsibility for youth use of the narcotic. After all, regardless of how each of us views adult use of marijuana, we should all agree that this intoxicating substance harms teenagers and their developing brains. [...]
- Details
- Category: March 2021
This study aimed to document changes in puffing topography and, the effects of device type and nicotine concentration on puffing topography, subjective effects and smoking behaviour over two weeks of e-cigarette (EC) use. [...] Two weeks post-baseline, puff duration and IPI significantly increased whilst puff number decreased. Cigalikes were associated with greater puff number and shorter IPI compared to Tanks; there was no difference between Tank18 and Tank6. CPD, CO and cigarette dependence reduced significantly from baseline to week1 but did not differ between conditions.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
Nicotine toothpicks are pretty self-explanatory: traditional toothpicks infused or coated with tobacco-free nicotine and food-grade flavorings. Users suck on the stick to release the nicotine within a few minutes. For a more intense experience, users can chew or nibble on it. Most brands sell toothpicks with three milligrams of nicotine as well as in a variety of flavors, including wintergreen, peppermint and cinnamon.
- Details
- Category: March 2021
A year after COVID-19 upended life for millions of Americans, there are troubling signs that the coronavirus may have also slowed progress against another deadly health threat: smoking.
Fewer smokers called quit-smoking hotlines last year and some smoked more, contributing to an unusual bump in cigarette sales — all in the middle of the stress, anxiety and uncertainty from the pandemic.
“It’s hard for folks to quit using tobacco in the best of times, so what happens when life is suddenly turned upside down?” said Jen Cash, who oversees Minnesota’s anti-tobacco programs.