Mark Butler’s incorrect account of tobacco enforcement spending deserves a correction and a harder debate about what the spending actually achieves. @alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social 09algor.substack.com/p/not-a-sing...

“Not a Single Dollar” Is a Claim the Record Cannot Support

Mark Butler’s incorrect account of tobacco enforcement spending deserves a correction—and a harder debate about what the spending actually achieves.

09algor.substack.com

The FDA’s tobacco advisory committee has appointed Kim “Skip” Murray ( @imaracingmom ) as its voting representative of the general public. clearingtheair.eu/en/post/cons...

Consumer advocate Skip Murray appointed to advise the FDA

Kim “Skip” Murray has been appointed as TPSAC’s general-public representative, a voting role advising the FDA on tobacco-product regulation.

clearingtheair.eu

@caphra.bsky.social calls for risk based nicotine regulation.Delegates @ WHO regional meeting should review whether their nicotine rules reflect differences in product risk. Read: Asia Pacific Declaration. Need regulated adult access to lower-risk nicotine alternatives Press release: bit.ly/4yvnrVf

CAPHRA_calls_for_nicotine_regulation_based_on_risk.docx

APTHR Media || for immediate release || word count 219 approximately [starts]CAPHRA calls for nicotine regulation based on risk Government delegates at this week’s WHO regional meeting in Manila ...

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Australia should ask what helps adults leave cigarettes behind and build policy around the answer.

Dr Alex Wodak AM@alexwodak.bsky.social · 4d ago

Japan cigarette sales ⬇️ 52% 2014 to 2024 as sales of heated tobacco units ⬆️ from zero. What other explanation is there for this than substitution? Just imagine how much more cigarette sales would’ve dropped if Japanese government had helped! @skipscorner.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

Smoking rate in New Zealand’s most deprived while vaping restricted only falls from 26.2% in 2015/16 to 19.3% in 2021/22 but then after vaping made readily available smoking plummeted to 12.9% in 2024/25. Vaping ⬇️ health iniquities @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

Japan cigarette sales ⬇️ 52% 2014 to 2024 as sales of heated tobacco units ⬆️ from zero. What other explanation is there for this than substitution? Just imagine how much more cigarette sales would’ve dropped if Japanese government had helped! @skipscorner.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

Unscrupulous anti vaping activists stop at nothing to create mud to throw at safer nicotine products. What’s wrong with them? @skipscorner.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

Clearing the Air@clearingtheair.bsky.social · 4d ago

One of the lung cell lines in the vaping study was already cancerous. The experiment did not measure cancer rates in people. Here’s why those details matter for the headlines. clearingtheair.eu/en/post/vapi...

"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." Gloria Steinem Certainly applies when tobacco control confronted with huge benefits & lower risk of safer nicotine products @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @skipscorner.bsky.social

Confidential UK document published by The Guardian ~20 years ago well worth reading. Drug Strategy Unit. Home Office & Cabinet Office. Drug trafficker profit 26-58% of turnover (p69)! @jamomartin.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Gu...

Who supports vapes replacing combustible cigarettes? Vapers✅ Most traded tobacco companies✅ Investors✅ Who is opposed? Tobacco control! How will this end? Safer nicotine products will replace combustible cigarettes! @algore09algor.bsky.social @skipscorner.bsky.social

Skip Murray 🌻@skipscorner.bsky.social · 6d ago

Experts say it’s time to include nicotine e-cigarettes in smoking cessation conversations | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Denialists opposed to tobacco harm reduction are delaying the inevitable but that’s the best they can hope for. Once China changes it will be game over @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

Charles A. Gardner, PhD@chancethegardener.bsky.social · 6d ago

Yes. This happened according to the UK NHS. Safer is displacing deadly. In a sane world, that would be seen as good news. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

There is something quietly unsettling about opening a newly published paper and discovering that the world it describes has already moved on. @alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social 09algor.substack.com/p/when-the-w...

When the World Changes Before the Paper Is Published

The publication date tells us when a paper arrived. It does not necessarily tell us how recently it checked the world.

09algor.substack.com

Making legal vapes readily available in #NewZealand helped least deprived #smokers the most. Restricting availability of legal #vapes eg Australia hurts low incomes smokers most #auspol

Presenting strong evidence & compelling arguments for safer nicotine products & this is exactly what you get @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @skipscorner.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social

Yes safer nicotine products should have had a much easier entry into the world considering they’re replacing something as deadly as cigarettes @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @sanho.bsky.social

Every now & then WarOnDrugs propagandists add a touch of exaggeration @sanho.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

1/2 My piece in Pearls & Irritations: #auspol #smoking #vaping Australia’s tobacco and vaping policies have helped create a vast illicit market while governments continue to pour money into enforcement and neglect cheaper, more effective harm reduction. pearlsandirritations.com/post/2026/10...

The growing gap between Australia’s policies on nicotine and reality

Australia’s tobacco and vaping policies have helped create a vast illicit market while governments continue to pour money into enforcement and neglect cheaper, more effective harm reduction.

pearlsandirritations.com

Australian tobacco control policy for smoking/vaping is a form of community self harm just as teens slashing forearms is form of individual self harm @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social

Lancet article on huge harm reduction success in Taiwan when needle syringe & methadone treatment programs rapidly brought HIV under control among people who inject drugs

Interesting commentary on ‘behavioural’ taxes (i.e. alcohol, tobacco, mineral oils) & potential conflicts of interests for governments if they come to rely on them for revenue  nicotinecharts.substack.com/p/what-if-be...

What if behavioral taxes work as intended?

Summary:

nicotinecharts.substack.com

41 years ago visited Czechoslovakia only a few years before communism fell. But 1985 seemed communism would last forever. That experience made me realise many impregnable fortresses soon crumble @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

Unfortunately the case against vaping is made up of deliberate dishonesty, dissembling & misinformation. Vaping opponents know if they’re honest they’ll lose every argument @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @skipscorner.bsky.social

Charles A. Gardner, PhD@chancethegardener.bsky.social · 2w ago

Behold the teen nicotine vaping "epidemic" in the USA, Canada and UK. In all three countries, the public is being told how many kids vape "at least one time in the past 30 days." The public does not know how many vape daily. These images are accurate. Ask if you want links to official surveys.

"It's biggest fraud against Australian people's revenue in living history & that's bit that's getting lost .. We're talking about a legal commodity. Only thing that makes this a crime is government's excise” #auspol @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10...

'Essentially unstoppable': How tobacco cartels funnel cash offshore

Australia's illicit tobacco trade has become so lucrative that criminal overlords have built a secret pipeline suspected of smuggling tens of millions of dollars overseas.

abc.net.au

Do you mean that some people switch from deadly cigarettes to safer nicotine products? Really? If that’s the case why is tobacco control so hostile to safer nicotine products? You’d think they’d welcome it?

Charles A. Gardner, PhD@chancethegardener.bsky.social · 2w ago

OMG. Almost as if these are product substitutes.

Public health loses authority when it treats disagreement as a threat rather than a test of its own claims.In nicotine policy, declaring one position beyond challenge can shut out evidence on relative risk, consumer behaviour & unintended effects of restriction 09algor.substack.com/p/when-publi...

When Public Health Declares Itself Innocent

ACOSH’s joint letter warns against changing tobacco policy.

09algor.substack.com

1/2 October 1987 had meeting with senior US State Department official & asked ‘does drug law enforcement work?’ He said ‘US$ fell this year so all sections had to cut budget except embassy security & drugs’. Understood this to mean he thought worked bureaucratically, couldn’t care about real world

Australians who use drugs asked how available heroin (prohibited >70 years)? 65% said ‘very easy’, 30% ‘easy’, 5% ‘difficult’, 4% ‘very difficult’. And Qld claims crackdown on illegal cigarettes, tobacco & vapes worked! I call BS @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social

Generational change also drives nicotine market transformation from combustible cigarettes to safer nicotine products. Young people are early adopters while middle aged & older are late/non-adopters. Former group will replace latter group. @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

#CancerCouncil rejoices as Big Tobacco increases sales of cancer sticks in Qld! #smoking #cigarettes #TobaccoControl @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @drbfreeman.bsky.social @publichealthaus.bsky.social @mikedaube.bsky.social newshub.medianet.com.au/2026/10/quee...

@caphra.bsky.social asks why WHO overlooks tobacco-control success? New Zealand ⬇️smoking faster any other Western Pacific country according to WHO's own figures. Tobacco Control discussion at next WPRO meeting in Manila doesn't acknowledge or examine how been achieved Press release: bit.ly/4zfuWAo

CAPHRA_questions_why_WHO_overlooks_its_tobacco-control_success_stories.docx

APTHR Media || for immediate release || word count 630 approximately [starts]CAPHRA questions why WHO overlooks its tobacco-control success stories Whilst New Zealand is on track to cut tobacco u...

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