Europe is eyeing stricter tobacco rules. Canada and Ireland are making moves too. Many look to France as a model. That is a serious mistake.
France’s war on smoking is failing. Copying its tactics will waste money, boost the black market, and trap millions in deadly cigarette addiction.
France boasts about creating a "smoke-free generation." Yet roughly 25% of French adults still smoke daily. Taxes on a standard pack are sky-high, around €11 (C$17.85.)
This punishing price hasn't worked. Instead, nearly one in three French smokers now buys illegal cigarettes.
Tobacco deaths stay near 75,000 yearly. France’s healthcare costs approach €150 billion (C$273 billion) per year.
Simply taxing cigarettes into oblivion fails when the deep grip of nicotine addiction is ignored.
Now, France is making a new error. It is banning nicotine pouches. These are small, tobacco-free pouches. Users place them under their lips. They deliver controlled nicotine without smoke.
They are a proven tool to help smokers quit. Used widely in Scandinavia and Britain, they work alongside vaping to reduce harm.
Taking them off shelves blocks one path away from cigarettes. Worse, the ban sends a dangerous message. It implies all nicotine is equally bad.
This blurs the crucial difference. Cigarettes cause cancer. Clean nicotine pouches do not, according to current research.
This rigid approach breeds deep mistrust. In working class areas, where smoking is most common, tax hikes feel like punishment.
Health campaigns urging people to quit ring hollow. They ignore daily struggles with stress, low pay, and poor access to quitting aids.
When the message clashes with reality, people tune out. Every new rule feels like another attack.
Sadly, Ireland seems eager to follow France's failed path.
Recently, Ireland's Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill announced plans to ban nicotine pouches.
Her reasoning was deeply concerning. She called the pouches "particularly invidious."
Speaking at a global health conference in Dublin, she claimed these products "have the capacity to get very high doses of nicotine to children in very subtle ways, but very, very quickly."
This language is not just wrong. It is outrageous.
Portraying nicotine pouches as a sinister plot hooking "children" ignores reality.
These are adult products.
They are sold with strict age limits, just like cigarettes and alcohol.
The suggestion they are widely ensnaring kids lacks evidence. It uses scary words to distract from the real issue.
Adults trying to quit smoking need safer options. Demonizing those options helps no one, least of all children whose parents might be struggling smokers.
The Irish health minister's focus should be on enforcing age restrictions, not banning tools that save adult lives.
Canada offers another cautionary tale.
Last August, Health Canada clamped down hard on Zonnic. This is the only nicotine pouch brand officially allowed for sale here. Officials ordered pouches hidden behind pharmacy counters.
They also limited flavours to only mint and menthol.
Convenience store owners are fighting this in court. They argue it creates needless barriers for adults trying to quit cigarettes.
Meanwhile, unregulated products flood the online market. Health Canada claimed this was about protecting youth. Yet cigarettes, the most deadly product, remain on store shelves.
This sends a baffling message. Safer alternatives are treated like dangerous contraband.
Deadly cigarettes get a pass. Smokers feel abandoned.
If European, Canadian, and Irish leaders want proof that a smarter path exists, they should look north.
Look to Sweden. Sweden has the lowest smoking rate in Europe. Only about 5% of Swedes smoke daily, making them the world’s first smoke-free country.
Why? Largely because of snus and nicotine pouches.
Snus is a moist oral tobacco product. Its risks are far lower than cigarettes.
Nicotine pouches are similar. Swedish men have the lowest lung cancer rates in the EU.
Norway tells the same story. Half of Norway’s daily smokers have switched. They moved from cigarettes to snus or nicotine pouches.
Harm reduction isn't just theory.
It works in real life.
A better approach is clear.
First, separate nicotine from smoke. The deadly part is the smoke, not the nicotine itself.
Clean nicotine products like pouches should be available.
They should be taxed fairly, not punitively.
Strict rules must keep them away from minors. Outright bans are not the answer.
Britain shows this works. It has tight youth access rules. It also encourages adult smokers to switch to safer options.
Britain’s smoking rate has dropped to a record low of 12.9%.
France, Ireland, Canada, and the EU could achieve the same.
Second, governments must focus on results. Forget empty slogans like "smoke-free generation."
Measure what actually happens. Track how many smokers switch to safer products.
Count seizures of illegal cigarettes. Check if public trust in health messages improves.
If a policy isn't cutting smoking rates, change it.
France ignores this. Ideology beats evidence there.
Third, listen to the science. It is undeniable.
Getting nicotine without smoke drastically reduces harm. Risks of cancer, heart disease, and lung disease plummet.
Governments should trumpet this fact. They should make it easy for smokers to understand.
Hiding safer options behind pharmacy counters or banning them outright does the opposite. It hides the truth.
Finally, talk to people with respect.
Lecturing smokers rarely works. Offering real help does.
Provide free quit kits. Share clear information about different risks.
Make reduced-harm products affordable and accessible. Acknowledge people's struggles and doubts.
Show them the data.
When smokers learn the real killer is the smoke, not the nicotine, many will choose the safer path themselves.
Europe, Canada, and Ireland face a choice.
One path follows France’s failed blueprint of high taxes, sweeping bans, booming black markets, and stubbornly high smoking deaths.
The other path treats smokers like adults. It gives them modern, less harmful tools to quit. It embraces proven harm reduction.
The right choice is obvious.
Banning nicotine pouches protects no one. It only protects the deadly status quo of cigarette addiction.
Leaders who truly care about health must choose science over fear.
They must choose life saving harm reduction, which is nicotine pouches.