New Zealand's smoking ban overlooks worry about growing youth vaping

Surging interest in vaping among young New Zealanders may undermine a government crackdown on the tobacco industry and its aim to get people to kick the habit, healthcare and anti-tobacco experts said on Friday (Dec 10). New Zealand plans to ban young people from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetime in one of the world's toughest crackdowns on the tobacco industry, arguing that other efforts to stamp out smoking were taking too long. The new regulations, however, do not cover vaping, which it said was much less harmful than smoking and can help some people to quit smoking.

2021-12-13
straitstimes.com

Even with all our anti-smoking policies, I’m still buying cigarettes – what will actually make smokers quit for good?

I am among the one in five people in the UK who smoke, contributing packet by packet to the £18billion we spend yearly on tobacco products. My parents have kept the habit their whole lives, as did both sets of grandparents before them. Having started in my early 20s and maintained a box-a-day addiction ever since, in many ways I’m a walking target for tobacco companies. In theory, that should also make me a target for health interventions, too. But I see the gory pictures on the box and ignore them, I pay the extra duty each time it’s upped, and I continue to light up despite knowing the implications.

2021-12-13
metro.co.uk

Cannabis prohibition has failed. Malta is on the right path – Steve Rolles

Policymakers in the UK, across Europe and around the world are watching Malta’s cannabis reforms unfold with great interest. Malta will soon join a growing number of countries implementing reforms to the evident failures of cannabis prohibition. Canada, Mexico and 18 US states have already made the move and, with rival Democrat and Republican bills being debated in the Senate, federal US legalisation inches closer each day. You can already travel from the Arctic circle down the West coast of the Americas almost to the equator without leaving a legal cannabis jurisdiction.

2021-12-13
timesofmalta.com

Harm Promotion | Public Health Schism Over E-Cigarettes | RegWatch

As we head into the final few weeks of 2021, the future for vaping and other safer nicotine products has never looked so clear: uncertainty and dread remain the dominant drivers heading into 2022. Joining us on RegWatch is the eminent tobacco control researcher Dr. Kenneth Warner, Dean Emeritus, Prof. Emeritus, School of Public Health, University of Michigan. Dr. Warner is at the forefront of efforts to restore balance in public health policy towards vaping and tobacco harm reduction. Did vaping contribute to the historic decline of teen smoking? Will flavor bans push people back to smoking? Find out!

2021-12-13
regulatorwatch.com

Now-defunct e-cigarette company agrees to pay $50 million for marketing to minors

A now-defunct e-cigarette retailer has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve allegations it marketed and sold vaping products to minors by appealing to their social media preferences, taste for fruit flavors and penchant to listen to influencers. The settlement agreement was announced Thursday by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, whose office accused Eonsmoke of "a coordinated advertising campaign intentionally targeted at consumers who were not of the minimum legal purchase age to purchase tobacco products" -- which in Massachusetts is 21.

2021-12-13
abcnews.go.com

New Zealand puts Australia to shame – new report

New Zealand (Aoteaora) [...] released an ‘aggressive’ action plan to be smoke-free by 2025. The goal is to reduce daily smoking in all population groups to 5% or less. The plan explicitly supports smokers who cannot quit to switch to less harmful alternatives such as vaping. It places aggressive restrictions on smoking while giving a significant advantage to vaping. [...] Australia’s approach is clearly designed to discourage vaping and this is reflected in our slowly declining smoking rate. Vaping in Australia involves a complex process of finding a doctor to write a prescription and ordering supplies from overseas or in some cases from a pharmacy.

2021-12-10
colinmendelsohn.com.au