Every second can of snus could disappear from shops. This will be the result if the government inquiry's proposal for nicotine limits for snus becomes a reality. Sweden's largest retailer of snus and nicotine pouches is now warning of the consequences.
"It will be much more difficult for smokers to quit smoking. At the same time, youth use is unlikely to decrease at all" says Markus Lindblad, Snusbolaget.
The government inquiry entitled "A safe childhood without nicotine, alcohol and nitrous oxide" proposes a cap on the concentration of nicotine in both traditional snus and nicotine pouches. According to the report, the limit should be 12 mg/gram. When Snusbolaget, Sweden's largest retailer of both snus and nicotine pouches, sorted out the variants that do not fulfil this requirement, it was clear what the consequences would be.
"If the proposal goes through, it means that more than half of the snus varieties demanded by customers will disappear. This is a huge blow to snus users and in particular to those who are trying to quit cigarettes with snus," said Mr Perez. Markus Lindblad, Head of Communications, Snus company, to Vejpkollen.
Smokers choose stronger snus - not young people
According to Mr Lindblad, the investigator did not take into account how consumers use snus in real life. The snus company regularly collects information from its customers. Markus Lindblad therefore sees clear patterns in consumer behaviour and can track their purchases for more than five years.
"Smokers who switch to snus tend to start with a stronger variant, often with a berry flavour. Over time, they switch to weaker snus and less extreme flavours. This is what we see in our statistics. Younger users, on the other hand, choose weaker snus right from the start." says Markus Lindblad to Vejpkollen.
"Don't understand how to think"
Because of this, a nicotine level of 12 mg/ml would not affect younger consumers to any great extent, he says, but it would affect older people, who need a higher nicotine strength to succeed in their attempts to quit smoking.
"The investigator seems to have missed all this. Three out of four snus users will no longer be able to buy the snus they want. Even if the intention of the investigation was good and that we probably need limits on nicotine levels in the products, I don't understand the thinking here." says Markus Lindblad.
What would you like the regulation to look like?
"In this situation, it is probably best to ignore the nicotine limit altogether. It needs to be investigated better than this. I know that many in the industry have proposed a higher limit, between 15 and 20 mg/mg. That would have saved at least 90 per cent of the product range.
"Important that smokers can find the right products"
Several politicians, including those who want to promote snus over cigarettes, have wanted to see regulation of nicotine strength. This has primarily concerned white snus, where the nicotine is added during production. But Markus Lindblad does not believe that this was the intended result before the investigation.
'If we want smoking to continue to decline in Sweden, we should not make snus more inaccessible. It's important that smokers can find the variant that suits them. Limiting nicotine strength in products that actually help them to quit cigarettes is really not good. We saw this when we limited the nicotine strength of e-liquid for cigarettes in the EU, where nicotine levels are high enough to get young people addicted but not high enough to attract all smokers to less harmful alternatives. We need to think about this more carefully", says Markus Lindblad.
"Must have the courage to question the investigation"
He is now calling on consumers to protest. And politicians to act.
"It is unfortunate that the report is so misguided when the intention was so good. Tobacco smoking is one of the main risk factors and the availability of health-promoting products must therefore be increased. The government has previously emphasised the importance of harm minimisation and encouraged price differences between cigarettes and alternative nicotine products. We must now dare to question the investigator's unfounded conclusions. Otherwise, we risk losing the world's proven best anti-smoking strategy." says Markus Lindblad.
In a neighbouring country, I can't remember which one, a nicotine ban is introduced from a certain age. This age is supposed to increase gradually. Good method, no child becomes addicted to nicotine and grows up without it. Then we should remember that there is no conclusive evidence that snus is harmful. There is only conjecture.
I started smoking at the age of 15 and smoked for 35 years. I smoked cigarettes, pipes and snuff a couple of times a day. But after 35 years, I decided to quit smoking and managed it easily. But I have been snuffing 1 dose per day of General extra strong for the last 10 years, so the need for nicotine has of course increased. But I was operated for colon cancer about 1 year ago and since the operation I have not felt any need to snuff. So to believe that high levels of nicotine in the snus are crucial to quit smoking is probably exaggerated, because if you give yourself the hell to quit smoking, you succeed!
It is so ridiculous that the government should spend time on this when there are other things that are much more important!
I'm so damn pissed off, when Sweden is becoming a pure hell to live in, the government gets involved in the issue of snuff's being or not being, damn it and save Sweden from destruction instead.
Why not reduce the price (tax) on tobacco-free snus. That should be one way to get more people to switch to nicotine-free.
Run white I don't think I've seen any over 12mg of them