Smoke Free Sweden

A thoughtful piece by Chair of The Lancet NCD Action Group Professor Robert Beaglehole: Vaping helps, but alone it’s not enough. A timely reminder that a successful smokefree strategy must include smart regulation of ALL lower-risk alternatives. brnw.ch/21wUkeR

What does a smarter approach to tobacco policy look like? It looks like Sweden, which is becoming smoke-free by making  safer nicotine alternatives accessible, acceptable and affordable through thoughtful regulation. It means using tax policies that make smoking more expensive,…

South Africa’s experience during the COVID-19 lockdown offers a clear lesson in the unintended consequences of bans on nicotine products. The SA government’s ban on the sale of tobacco and nicotine products in 2020 was intended to protect public health. In the end, it only…

Same as Sweden, NZ slashed smoking rates, not by banning nicotine, but by allowing people who smoked to access vastly risk-reduced alternative nicotine products that were not as expensive, almost as readily available on the consumer market and more acceptable to consumers than…

Are nicotine pouches the missing piece in the puzzle that will eliminate smoking? 78% of Swedish women surveyed for our recent report Power in a Pouch said that they could well be. Our focus group discussions with Swedish female ex-smokers revealed a compelling, consistent…

The EU aims to be smoke-free by 2040, but current smoking rates are still 4 times higher than the target. Sweden is the only member state close to achieving it, but the EU has yet to draw on Sweden’s strategy of evidence-based tobacco harm reduction as a roadmap for success.…

For our recent Power in a Pouch report, we ran focus groups to see what Swedish female ex-smokers had to say about their experience using nicotine pouches as a means to quit. Many described the transition from cigarettes to far less harmful nicotine pouches as natural and…

Nicotine is harmful = MYTH! @GOVUK says this misconception is a barrier to quitting smoking. In Sweden, smokers are switching to less harmful alternatives, with nicotine pouches ranked as the most effective quit tool among women and men. Smokers need access to all quit tools…

International health experts have applauded Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson’s robust defence of nicotine pouches in a brewing row with the European Union over safer alternatives to cigarettes. 👏 Minister Svantesson has challenged EU plans to hike taxes on nicotine…

Who's winning the war against smoking? Sweden has the EU’s lowest smoking rates, thanks to safer alternatives. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s restrictive policies 30,000 tobacco deaths a year. Our new report shows 464,000 Uzbek lives could be saved by 2060 with a new approach👇…