Another outstanding piece by @algore09algor.bsky.social politely but robustly critiquing Professor Simon Chapman AO’s support for keeping cigarette excise sky high & quasi banning vapes #auspol @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

My article out today: why Australia has to now start reducing cigarette excise & make safer, smoke-free nicotine products easier to get than deadly cigarettes #auspol @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social pearlsandirritations.com/post/2026/05...

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg talking 💯% BS! “Tragically, if Congress doesn’t step in to restore the FDA’s ban on flavored e-cigarettes, more children will become addicted to nicotine, more will contract serious diseases, & more will die early & painful deaths” www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Well worth reading this global history of nicotine vaping. Australia’s first anti vape action January 2009! @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social casaa.org/education/va...

For this week’s deep dive, we’re looking at why poorly designed nicotine taxes are backfiring. 📉 The data from the US, South Korea, and China is clear: when you aggressively tax lower-risk products like vapes and pouches, you drive people straight back to smoking. clearingtheair.eu/en/post/are-...

Examples of effective, safe, cost-effective drug harm reduction •Methadone treatment •Needle syringe programs •Drug consumption rooms •Drug testing •Pharmaceutical heroin Rx •Naloxone distribution •Nicotine vapes & pouches @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

9.9%. That’s the new US adult smoking rate. 🚨 It’s a massive public health victory, driven largely by adults switching to vapes. Yet, the FDA Commissioner just resigned because of political infighting over the decision to allow flavoured vapes on the market. clearingtheair.eu/en/post/fda-...

I've updated my compilation of reactions to the FDA's authorization of flavored vapes. skipscorner.substack.com/p/glas-react...

The Blog Directory has been updated. An amazing amount of excellent content is being created by these gifted writers. skipscorner.substack.com/p/blog-direc...

Just as no one has done more to accelerate transformation from fossil fuels to renewables than Trump, no one in Australia has done more to reduce sky high cigarette excise & emancipate vaping in Australia than Emeritus Professor Simon Chapman AO @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Doing right thing for wrong reason is better than doing wrong thing for right reasons

Philip Morris International’s global cigarette shipments ⬇️ from 927 bn units 2012 to 617 bn units 2024. Cigarettes now in commodity death spiral, just as they’ve been for almost 8 million smokers/year global @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Another superb piece from @algore09algor.bsky.social notes Australian government documents reveal severe unintended consequences of policy on smoking/vaping were all known &/or predicted but govt went ahead anyway #auspol @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

In his Senate Inquiry submission, Emeritus Professor Simon Chapman AO says high cigarette excise isn’t cause of Australia’s huge illegal cig trade & ⬇️ excise isn’t solution. So what is the cause of 50-60% of cig supply being illegal & what is the solution? pearlsandirritations.com/post/2026/05...

Good morning! Calling all #NicotineNerds, please check out this Call For Content. #WVD #WNTD will be here soon. Have a great day. #BeKind skipscorner.substack.com/p/call-for-c...

‘Argentina ended its prohibition of vapes and other safer nicotine products. Tobacco harm reduction advocates welcome the repeal as an overdue admission that bans do not work’ You can say that again OK I will: bans do not work @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social filtermag.org/argentina-en...

Support for making psychedelics available as prescription medicines increased 12% between 2023 & 2025—growing from 29% to 41%. Similarly, support for allowing the legal, therapeutic use of psychedelics grew 10%, from 36% to 46% in 2 years. filtermag.org/striking-inc...

Argentina’s decision to end vape ban marks significant shift in nicotine regulation & tobacco harm reduction. Move reflects growing recognition prohibition-based approaches have limited effectiveness in reducing demand for lower-risk nicotine alternatives filtermag.org/argentina-en...

Simon Chapman uses ridicule rather than argument & big smear suggests people who disagree with him are Big Tobacco fifth column. Shows how desperate opponents of tobacco harm reduction are now @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social johnmenadue.com/post/2026/05...

Debates re nicotine policy increasingly focus on what post-cigarette public health landscape could look like. Future of tobacco control may depend less on eliminating nicotine use entirely & more on reducing exposure to the harms caused by combustion www.disobedientmargins.com/p/nicotine-a...

The government openly acknowledged that tighter restrictions could drive consumers into illicit markets. @alexwodak.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social @drbfreeman.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

Is sale of illegal alcohol contaminated with dangerous methanol linked to illegal cigarette trade? @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...

Kiwi expert on smoking & vapes, ex senior WHO official, warns New Zealand to learn from Australia’s terrible policy errors if want to avoid booming illegal supply of cigarettes & vapes #auspol @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social newsroom.co.nz/2026/05/19/a...

This is what Indonesia’s smokers and policy makers should read. From a prominent Indonesian, ex WHO.

Australia’s booming illegal cigarette trade caused by sky high cig excise many unintended consequences include attack Melbourne Adass Israel synagogue allegedly by Mr Big @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Dr Nick Coatsworth calls for tobacco tax cuts, labelling the emergence of a multibillion-dollar black market controlled by organised crime a “whole-of-government policy failure”. He’s 💯% right! @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social www.smh.com.au/national/for...

Giving testimony today at Senate inquiry “Illegal tobacco crisis in Australia”. Water tight case to start reducing cigarette excise, make vapes easier to get than deadly cigarettes @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

Alan Gor makes a powerful case for the intellectual bankruptcy of Australia’s anti-vaping cult. Well worth reading his daily articles @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

WA government wants people unable/unwilling to stop smoking/vaping to buy from illegal trade. Quasi prohibitions or actual thing often lousy policy but great political strategies. Letter to Editor of WA Bugle? Contact MPs? Both? @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

Problems of Australia’s attempt to arrest & imprison its way out of unsustainable failed sky high cigarette excise & quasi prohibition of vaping escalate. How much longer can this shitshow continue? @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Expert opinion on WHO’s report on nicotine pouches www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react...

Prohibition doesn't work (or 68% tax on a pack of smokes). Tobacco cartel rolling in it as Budget revs shrink Veteran crime reporter Adam Shand #auspol michaelwest.com.au/budget-boon-...

Australia’s tobacco control still united opposition to ⬇️ illegal trade in cigarettes, tobacco & vapes by any reduction in cigarette excise but that’s exactly what has to happen. Make safer vapes easier to obtain than deadly cigs @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

Does @tcrgbath.bsky.social declare at conferences or in publications funding support from Mr Bloomberg as potential conflict of interest? Thank you for your attention to this matter. @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

“beneath the polished messaging lies something increasingly difficult to ignore: tobacco control has become less about helping smokers and more about protecting ideology, institutional authority, and moral identity” @alexwodak.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

If there’s no fire, there’s no smoke. If there’s no smoke, there’s no smoking-related disease. The @WHO’s 152-page report tries to ignore this basic reality to push a "quit or die" agenda. clearingtheair.eu/post/new-who...

3 former World Health Organization directors say the goal of reaching a global smoking rate below 5% by 2040 is achievable—if safer nicotine products are fully embraced. Their words are clear rebuke to WHO’s anti-tobacco harm reduction stance filtermag.org/three-former...

After 11 years 18% BAT’s 2025 earnings came from smoke-free nicotine products. 2nd fastest transformation of any traded tobacco company. Would @tcrgbath.bsky.social prefer BAT not transform? Suddenly stop selling cigarettes? PMI now earn 42% from smoke-free. @algore09algor.bsky.social

Congratulations Australian tobacco control magnificent achievement losing $62 billion/5 years cigarette excise from government revenue! Must feel very proud! @johnquiggin.bsky.social @richarddenniss.bsky.social #auspol @algore09algor.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @drbfreeman.bsky.social

Original excise forecasts obtained by SMH show 2025-26 and 2029-30 Treasury expected to collect $77 billion excise. In 2029-30 originally expected collect $16.8 billion but downgraded to $4.4 billion in December, then in Budget downgraded to just $2.1 billion www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

If Australian Government would like us to believe it is “returning the budget to balance in a measured way”, how can it leave cigarette excise to keep bleeding? It haemorrhaged $77 billion/5 years! #auspol @johnquiggin.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @publichealthaus.bsky.social

Want to Make Smoking Great Again? Then just ask tobacco control: 1 Severely restrict vapes 2 Push cig tax to stratosphere 3 Create massive black market 4 Watch smoke rates ⬆️ 5 Deny responsibility @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

NEW ZEALAND IS WINNING. 🇳🇿 In just six years, the smoking rate has been cut nearly in HALF, dropping from 13.3% to a record low 6.9%. They embraced vaping as a tool, not a threat. While other countries dither, NZ is proving how to end the smoking epidemic. 👇 clearingtheair.eu/post/new-zea...

If you're interested in nicotine and public health, this list of events might come in handy. skipscorner.substack.com/p/events-a0e

Excellent exposition on my change in thinking over time on e-cigarettes by Marc Gunther: marcgunther.substack.com/p/the-hypocr...

“You turn quitting into a moral obstacle course while leaving smoking exactly where it has always been: legal, available, taxed, and everywhere.” @alexwodak.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @drbfreeman.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

Where are places that those with a passion for all things nicotine might work or share their work? I've got a list for that! The latest edition went live this morning. skipscorner.substack.com/p/see-opport...

Did you know buying a fake vape could literally be funding terrorism? 🚨 In our latest interview, Crime Stoppers CEO Hayley van Loon exposes the terrifying reality of the $4.2 trillion "Illegal Empire" and how the black market is a massive national security threat. youtu.be/mI3uJuH_-40

Ethan Nadelmann spoke University Sydney Law School 12 May on his personal journey in US & international harm reduction & drug law reform. Really fascinating. Huge progress made but it’s slow & expensive. @jamomartin.bsky.social @harmreductionintl.bsky.social @tninstitute.bsky.social

Globally ~41 million people living with HIV. And just about everywhere, smoking rates for this population are far higher—anywhere up to 4 times higher—than national averages filtermag.org/tobacco-harm...