stigmatisation Scare tactics. Consumer perspective. These are complicated words, but no less important in today's debate about users, children and the market for "new" nicotine products. On Wednesday, Vejpkollen and Snusarnas riksförbud are holding a box in Almedalen on this very subject. In fact, this column is almost not just about that...
It is once again time for Vejpkollen to take the stage together with Snusarnas Riksförbund in Almedalen. What will we talk about? Nicotine, of course. And why it's important that we, as consumers, have a voice in the debate on smoke-free nicotine use. For almost 15 years, the discussion and policy on e-cigarettes, snus and now nicotine pouches has been dominated by a prevention narrative. The goal has been to eradicate all nicotine use, except for nicotine replacement therapy (of course), at any cost. At the same time, more and more smokers have found their way out of smoking by using nicotine, but in much less harmful forms.
The asset is Swedish with a capital S
Of course, this change has not been about nicotine medicines (duh). It varies a bit across European countries, but Sweden stands out in terms of scale and, above all, availability. Smokeless nicotine products have taken over the tobacco shelves of shops. Here we have access to a healthy mix of snus, e-cigarettes, heat-not-nicotine pouches, straight over the counter, and relatively cheap compared to cigarettes. This is certainly not the case in other countries. This is simply damn Swedish.
But that is not enough.
As these products take over the shelves of our convenience stores and petrol stations, the next generation is also discovering smokeless nicotine. What was once only available in vejp shops and risky convenience stores is now in every other shop. We can think what we like about this, but the market (we) speak with our wallets and there is clearly a demand for disposable vejps and nicotine pouches that taste of everything from peach to tarred boat (although the latter is not a big seller).
Same same but different
So what does this mean? Of course, the use of nicotine is changing even among those who cannot buy it legally - young people.
It may sound a bit harsh, but anyone who started smoking in their early teens knows how it works. The cigar has always been a symbol. Cool? Rock n roll? Liberated? Decadent? Whatever. The cigarette may not have been that damn good, but the nicotine gave an odd kick and somewhere some of us (including yours truly) became part of a new social context, in smoking boxes, under fans, in smoking rooms. Cigarettes mean so much more than just peer pressure, bowing to a ruthless tobacco industry, lifelong addiction or a slow death. It can equally be described in terms of new contacts, friendships, relationships and opportunities. For young people, this is part of life. And young people, especially those of us who lived 'a little bit at risk' (as socionomists and sociologists like to put it) have hardly changed between generations.
No, it's not a disaster, NSG
In 2025, when we adults are getting excited about screen time and porn sites, sharing a can of trockadero snuff with your mates is a bit of a ball. Maybe offer someone a vejp that an older friend gave out, but who "didn't know which one you wanted so you got one of each" (like 12). New things, stuff you're not supposed to do, but nevertheless a bit cool, a bit decadent, something that creates new contacts, new friends, creates life, even if it's "a bit risky."
This is the situation in Sweden. And probably in many other countries too.
And it need not be a disaster. Even if some bureaucratic activists at the Public Health Agency or PR-trained pundits from the Non Smoking Generation would have us believe so.
Regulate wisely - or fail
As a society, we are well placed to deal with this development, much better than those we had to deal with when cigarette smoking was on the rise. But we need to wake up and realise that neither smokers nor, for that matter, nicotine-craving young people have really changed much between generations. Not the way we want them to, anyway.
What we can do, however, is to make sure that this odious behaviour does not at least lead to suffering and death, which cigarette smoking undoubtedly paved the way for.
We need to ensure that the crop of 'new' nicotine products that dominate the market today (black and white) are as safe as they can be. And we don't do that with sweeping bans, rhetorical debates about how some industry wants to "addict a new generation" to nicotine, or fuzzy studies that exaggerate the risks of one product or another. Stop that nonsense.
Feel free to ban - but choose the right ban
Get the message instead. Regulate on the basis of knowledge, not with some confused scare tactic that stems from a prevention ideology. These are products made in a lab, in a factory, where every part or ingredient is interchangeable. It's like an open door to making demands.
Get rid of what is proven to be harmful. Don't ban a flavouring because it tastes 'too good'. But if an ingredient in an e-liquid or nicotine pouch causes allergic reactions in many people, make sure to regulate it away. If a new material in a vaporiser is found to react badly with a common ingredient in an e-liquid, make sure it is not allowed to be sold on the market.
Minimising risks
Demand product safety, but also demand independent testing, keep your ear to the market and ensure a clear regulatory framework and thus a clear, but safe and regulated, supply of smokeless nicotine products. Youth smoking can never be eradicated, but we can at least keep our young people away from a large part of the risks. And in return, we get relatively safe nicotine consumption that allows adult consumers to actually use nicotine in the way we choose.
Brats are and always will be brats
I am fairly confident that we can protect the new generation from the most harmful nicotine use. But it will require more real action, a harm reduction system, and less stigmatised prevention.
We are well on the way in Sweden, cigarettes are being marginalised in our shops, smoking is declining, smokers are getting the chance to take their lives back, even if the youngsters behave like brats (which they probably SHOULD). That is a good sign. Don't let it be stopped. Instead, capitalise on it. And let's keep being fucking Swedish.
See you in Almedalen!
Are you there? Come and talk nicotine with us!
"Who will represent snus in the EU if not the Swedes themselves?"
Participants:
– Stefan Mathisson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Vejpkollen
– Samuel Lundell, Founder and Chairman, Snusarnas Riksförbund
– Tobias Andersson, Chairman of the Industry Committee, Sweden Democrats, SD
– Carissa Düring, Director, Considerate Pouchers
Where: Diplomat Garden, Strandgatan 30
Time: Wednesday 25 June, 13.00-14.00
https://gotland.se/rg/almedalsveckan/evenemang-almedalsveckan/2025/136
And finally, some reading tips for the summer:
"Vaping - Behind the smoke and fears" by Canadian physician Mark Tyndall - a rebuttal to the aggressive anti-tobacco movement, the resistance to harm reduction (both in addiction treatment, in HIV prevention and in the tobacco control apparatus).
"Lighten the weight on your shoulders" by Swedish physician Fredrik Nyström. A cavalcade of studies in which Nyström presents the results of years of research on health, what works and doesn't work to live well. The section on nicotine, blood pressure and how the politicised view of smoke-free nicotine is likely to lead to poorer health for many individuals is, to say the least, as controversial as it is liberating.
Pathetic "bans" don't work, just today I vejped Iqos Levia on an outdoor terrace and of course it's perfectly fine to vejpa on the platform, no smell of smoke that could possibly disturb anyone and no Dampf-Gestapo in sight.