To the editor: The bane of flavored tobacco products
The Chester Telegraph | Jan 15, 2024 | Comments 2
They tried to convince me that flavored tobacco products serve as a “coping mechanism” for people in recovery and compared these products with proven harm reduction approaches like “needle exchange.” However, their products are the leading cause of death for nearly a half million people in our country each year.
As a huge proponent of harm reduction strategies that are proven to save lives (syringe support, naloxone, wound care, suboxone, etc.), I find it hard to see how flavored tobacco products reduce harm. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, flavored tobacco products are more addictive than regular tobacco products, and those using menthol products also have a much more difficult time quitting tobacco.
This approach is so typical of an industry that asserts the rights of adult users, while spending billions yearly targeting our youth, black and LGBTQ communities with candy-flavored products.
This attempt to co-opt proven harm reduction strategies or to supposedly support those in recovery is faulty on many levels. There is no evidence that Mango flavored e-cigarettes, for example, provide any added value for those adults wanting to quit or use less. And, it is absolutely true these products have driven the increasing youth vaping use that will likely contribute to decades of increased tobacco use.
This is not about prohibition. Tobacco-flavored products would still be available. This is about recognizing the role the industry has played in creating a culture of use and addiction among targeted populations for decades.
I believe that ending the sale of flavored tobacco, including menthol (which is the flavor of choice of nearly 80 percent of Black smokers) will increase health equity for all. The tobacco industry has historically targeted the black and LGBTQ community with flavored tobacco products. And this marketing works.
Our VT Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicates that the BIPOC and LGBTQ youth are more likely to use these flavored tobacco products than their heterosexual, white, non-Hispanic peers. These populations are also more likely to suffer the lifelong consequences of tobacco addiction.
Passing laws to promote health is not uncommon. When smoke-free indoor laws were passed, it was the first time we saw a significant reduction in tobacco use. As someone who has worked in the field of substance use for over 35 years, I know that policy change often goes hand in hand with education, providing support and addressing social determinants of health.
It is my hope that the Vermont legislature will see this bill as an opportunity to prevent youth addiction and reduce health inequity in our state. As one colleague in the field said, “Even in countries that have decriminalized heroin, you won’t find candy-flavored heroin on the market.”
Robin Rieske, MS, CPS
Brattleboro
Filed Under: Commentary • Letters to the Editor
Thank you for sharing Robin.
I applaud efforts to reduce the risks of nicotine addiction, and all of the harms associated with it, however I need to point out that there is value in having a less damaging alternative to regular cigarettes, and that vapor products are not only obviously less harmful, as anyone who has made the transition can tell you, but also a valuable tool in helping people to quit nicotine altogether.
This is my story, and I share this experience with many others who struggled with this addiction for many years. I began smoking cigarettes as a teen, many people took up smoking back then, even though it was common knowledge that it was dangerous, and very addictive, and I was a heavy smoker for decades. It is a very difficult thing to quit, and even in the face of serious health issues, all of the usual methods of quitting for me were unsuccessful despite multiple attempts.
I tried them all, the patch, the other patch, the pills, the other pills, the gum, cold turkey, counting my cigarettes, switching to a pipe, cigars, chewing tobacco, I tried everything available, several times, to no avail.
When the vapor devices appeared on the market, I started hearing about how delicious they were, and how other people were able to quit using these things, by slowly reducing the nicotine content of the juice. This is a very practical approach. So I bought my first device, and switched from tobacco to vapor.
Let me tell you, that within just a couple of days, the difference in how I felt, was night and day. At this point it was clear, that if I only was able to trade one vice for the other, that this move was obviously a valuable harm reduction strategy, and the transition was seamless. If it wasn’t for the fact that I could get this stuff in interesting and tasty flavors, I might not have given it a chance at all.
Once my brain had gotten used to the vapor, a few months in, it was time to try to wean myself off of the addictive component, the nicotine. I bought juice, in my favorite flavor, in ever reducing strength, and over the course of a few months, I was able to slowly reduce the dose down to zero, without even noticing the change. It was easy, because I was still taking the same amount of puffs every day, but the content of those doses reduced so gradually that it wasn’t even perceptible.
So after decades of smoking, I was finally clean of this awful drug. I puffed on the zero content vapor for a few more days, then just stopped cold turkey, but without the strong, physical side effects, and I was done, finally done, with nicotine forever.
The way I see it, if I had only been able to get myself off of cigarettes, and on to the vapor, that alone would have been a pretty big win. Again, ask anyone who has made this transition, and they will tell you the same, that cigarettes are far and away much more destructive to ones health, and everyday well being, than vapor. It is a valuable harm reduction tool that should remain available for all those willing to try it, in my opinion.
As a means of quitting nicotine altogether, vapor products, in ever reducing strength, were hands down the easiest method of quitting this terrible, filthy addiction, and literally, the only one that ever worked for me, despite many, many, demoralizing attempts, using every other method.
I don’t know what the answer is to how we help people from becoming addicted in the first place, but perhaps a strategy for us to try would be to raise the age of legal purchase of all nicotine products every other year, while making vapor products available to all, through medical means, along with the other methods, as a tool for quitting, and harm reduction, until the population ages out.
Despite what some folks say, there is indeed value in flavored nicotine products, as both a harm reduction strategy, and a successful, and unique means of quitting the addiction altogether.