Smoking in Palau
In Palau, the sales of cigarettes are legal and smoking is allowed. They can also be imported for trade, and health warnings on packaging are not required. However, there are still some restrictions in place. It is not legal to buy cigarettes online or from vending machines. There is a minimum age of 21 years for purchase and there are legal restrictions on smoking in public places. The total taxation rate on cigarettes is 74.07%. Prevalence data from 2024 indicate that 17.7% of adults were current smokers, including 7.7% of females and 26.2% of males. Smoking-related mortality data from 2021 show 26 deaths attributable to tobacco smoking, including 6 female deaths and 20 male deaths. This shows that tobacco smoking accounted for 13.5% of all deaths in the country in 2021, with 7.17% female deaths and 18.29% male deaths.
Read articles from Palau
July 07, 2026 by substack.com
The worst idea in the history of tobacco control
Putting nicotine into a global drug prohibition treaty would be one of the most damaging ideas in tobacco control. It would treat smoke-free alternatives like illicit drugs while leaving the central cause of harm — combustible tobacco — dangerously misunderstood. Dependence matters, but policy must distinguish between addiction and the disease risks caused by smoking. A global nicotine ban would not end demand; it would push safer products underground and protect cigarettes by default.
June 25, 2026 by filtermag.org
Tiny Pacific Nation Applies for Global Nicotine Ban. Who’s Behind It?
Palau’s proposal for a global nicotine ban raises serious concerns about proportionality, evidence and unintended consequences. Treating smoke-free nicotine products like illicit drugs ignores the major difference between dependence and the harms caused by combustion. Prohibition would not remove demand — it would push consumers towards illegal markets while cigarettes remain the most dangerous option. Global nicotine policy should reduce harm, not repeat the failures of the war on drugs.
June 16, 2026 by thefirebreak.org
Palau: How to Buy a Small Nation State
Palau’s push to place nicotine under international drug-control rules raises serious questions about influence, governance and proportionality. Treating all nicotine products like illicit drugs risks ignoring the major difference between combustible cigarettes and lower-risk alternatives such as vapes and pouches. For smokers, prohibition does not remove demand — it removes legal, regulated options. Global nicotine policy should be built on evidence and relative risk, not on campaigns that turn harm reduction into a drug war.
June 12, 2026 by clearingtheair.eu
The war on drugs comes for nicotine: Brussels lobbyists, failed Australian prohibitionists and a tiny island lobby the UN to treat vapers like meth addicts
A proposal to place nicotine under international drug-control rules would treat vaping and nicotine pouches more like illicit substances than harm-reduction tools. Critics warn that such an approach could drive legal products out of regulated markets, strengthen illicit trade and make cigarettes comparatively easier to access. Nicotine policy should distinguish between dependence and the far greater harms caused by combustion. Extending prohibition models to safer products risks repeating failures already seen elsewhere.