As more and more studies show that smokeless nicotine products can help smokers quit cigarettes, governments around the world are tightening the rules even further. These include bans, higher taxes and new restrictions that, according to critics, increasingly treat vejp as if it were regular smoking.
The Vaping Post magazine has conducted a major review of the latest wave of regulation of nicotine products around the world. The picture that emerges is clear: the trend is towards tighter controls, even in countries where smoke-free alternatives were previously seen as harm reduction tools.
Of course, there are some exceptions, such as Argentina, which has decided to legalise and regulate vejp products, as Vejpkollen reported recently. But in most places around the world, things are going the other way. In South Korea, new rules are now being introduced to include synthetic nicotine as a tobacco product. This means they are subject to the same type of restrictions as cigarettes, with warning labelling requirements, sales rules and restrictions on use in public places.
This is due to concerns about youth use and what the authorities describe as loopholes in the legislation. Critics, however, say the rules further blur the distinction between cigarettes and smoke-free alternatives.
Nicotine is being taxed more heavily
In the US, the pressure on alternative nicotine products also continues, with New York State discussing increased taxes on nicotine pouches and vejp products, while several states are pushing for more flavour bans and restrictions.
The perennial bone of contention is how to assess the fact that many adult smokers actually use vejpning to leave cigarettes behind - as opposed to advocates of tougher rules who argue that flavours and marketing risk attracting young users.
The debate has become increasingly polarised. While some authorities want to restrict flavoured products, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also recently approved certain fruit flavours for the US market - a move that has been described as a clear break in the US's otherwise hard line on flavoured vejp.
Europe is moving towards more bans
Vejpkollen has previously reported on how several European countries have chosen to tighten the rules around vejp in recent years. Belgium has banned disposable vejp and France has decided on similar measures. In the UK, a national ban on disposable models is expected to come into force in 2026. France, like several other EU countries, has recently chosen to completely ban or severely restrict the availability of nicotine pouches, white snus.
Australia has also gone very far in its regulation. There, nicotinevejp has effectively been shifted to the pharmacy market, while a large black market has emerged as a result of the stricter rules.
”Demand is not going away”
A recurring argument from consumer organisations and harm reduction advocates is that nicotine use will not disappear just because products are banned or taxed more heavily. Instead, trade risks moving outside legal and controlled markets.
This is also something that the Vaping Post highlights in its review. The paper describes how several countries are now pursuing policies that increasingly focus on restrictions and moralising about nicotine itself - rather than on the difference between smoking and smoke-free alternatives.
