Can cigarette prices ever be too high? Of course not! Forthcoming article interviews 5 people who agree cig excise should never - under any circumstances - be lowered @jamomartin.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social

Replacements Audio: black vinyl records ➡️cassettes ➡️Walkman ➡️CDs➡️streaming Cars: petrol/diesel➡️EVs Trains: coal➡️diesel➡️Electric But tobacco control adamant cigarettes not replaced by safer, smoke-free nicotine products eg vapes & nicotine pouches? Are they really that crazy? @ianamossyd.bsky.social

“Soaring cigarette taxes are driving desperate smokers towards smuggled cigarettes and undermining law enforcement, a former Australian Federal Police detective has revealed” @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social www.skynews.com.au/australia-ne...

Australia shifted much of its legal cigarette market from taxed & regulated to illegal untaxed & unregulated supply by ⬆️ cig exercise to unrealistic levels & refusing to consider ⬇️ them. @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social share.google/EKyDrYmWTN1V...

Trust in public health already dropped will fall further soon as people realise tobacco control misinformed public re scientific evidence eg false claim vapes Gateway to smoking. Meanwhile safer nicotine products replace deadly cigarettes @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Not all people working for tobacco companies are evil & not all people working in public health are saintly. Worth remembering. @jamomartin.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

What does tobacco control think it can achieve by cheating when inexorable & unstoppable replacement of deadly combustible cigarettes by safer, smoke-free nicotine products is taking place anyway? @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @caphra.bsky.social

How dumb is Australia raising cigarette excise to unaffordable levels making giant black market get even bigger! By Professor David Heilpern, Dean of Law School, Southern Cross University @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social www.echo.net.au/2025/09/poli...

1/2 “If [a risk averse and precautionary] approach also makes e-cigarettes less easily accessible, less palatable or acceptable, more expensive, less consumer-friendly or pharmacologically less effective, ..

2/2 .. or inhibits innovation & development of new & improved products, then it causes harm by perpetuating smoking” Royal College of Physicians @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Want to know what severe unintended -ve consequences of swingeing cigarette excise includes? Then read this @jamomartin.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @m1ngthemerciless.bsky.social www.theage.com.au/national/fro...

Only 4 days now left till Australia’s next cigarette excise hike of 5% on Monday 1 September. Looking good for cigarette & tobacco black market! @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

90% world’s vapes made China, 90% of these made Shenzhen, shipped to rest of world through neighbouring Hong Kong harbour. Vapes strictly banned HK so need special laws allow vapes transit HK. Cognitive Dissonance!!! @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social

Only 5 days till Australia next increases cigarette excise! Up another 5% on Monday 1 September! Organised crime can’t believe their luck! Low risk-high profit! @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

🚀 Final call! Don’t miss the Asia Forum on Nicotine #AFN25 — live online, 27 August. Be part of the solution. #AsiaPacific #THR #AFN25 Details at afn.asia

Australian police treated badly over tobacco & vapes. 1st made responsible for futile task stop black market cigarettes & vapes. 2nd have to deal with homicides among criminals fighting to control lucrative illegal trade @jamomartin.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Australia warned to reduce cigarette excise & make safer, smoke-free vapes more available than deadly cigarettes @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social @drbfreeman.bsky.social johnmenadue.com/post/2025/08...

@clivebates.bsky.social comments on bizarre theory of anti tobacco harm reduction activists that vaping is Gateway to smoking - well worth reading clivebates.com/papers-and-l... @chancethegardener.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Did you know smoking more than doubles risk of blindness & especially increases risk of a type of age-related macular degeneration? @jgitchell.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social

Prohibition DOES work as a political strategy. That’s why it’s usually sustained despite miserable track record as a policy. Good for careers @jamomartin.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @sanho.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @drbfreeman.bsky.social

3/3 @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @greencate.bsky.social @jeremybuckingham.bsky.social @fionapatten.bsky.social @drbfreeman.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @quentindempster.bsky.social @peterfitz1.bsky.social @aivl.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social

Surely smokers have a right to replace cigarettes with much less risky nicotine products which they pay for themselves just like any other member of community trying to avoid premature death or disease! @sanho.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Didn’t expect Oz vape denialism to last so long. Or be sustained despite so many & so severe unintended negative consequences. By both sides of politics. Only political parties implacably support tobacco harm reduction: Nationals & Legalise Cannabis @jamomartin.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Options: (1) accept huge black market in cigarettes & vapes while pretending not to; or (2) implement policies to shift as much as possible of demand to legal, regulated supply & switch off hypocrisy. Australia still on (1). @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social

“The UK controversially banned sales of single-use e-cigarettes on June 1. A recent investigation claims that almost 1 in 4 retailers are breaking the law by continuing to sell them” @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social filtermag.org/disposable-v...

“Variety in flavors may make alternative products more appealing” for some adults making the switch from smoking. Many start with tobacco flavor, then “explore other options” — helping create distance from old habits. After all, “flavors are part of everyday life.”

Laffer curve posits below & above an optimal tax rate, government revenue starts to decline. Australia’s sky high cig tax now well above optimal rate provoking vigorous & lucrative black market which is now violent @edjegasothy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_...

Tobacco control exaggerated harms from vaping to young while ignoring high rates of smoking related deaths & disease among older smokers. Complete failure of sky high cigarette excise & quasi prohibition of vapes now glaringly obvious. It’s time! @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Spending even more money on law enforcement to reduce sales in Australia of illegal cigarettes, tobacco & nicotine vapes will achieve SFA. Why would smokers NOT buy a packet of illegal cigarettes at $15 when a legal packet costs $45? @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Only 27 days till Australia next increases cigarette excise 5% on 1 September 2025. Why do this when sky high cigarette prices already diverts a huge proportion of sales to black market? @edjegasothy.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Vapes & other low-risk, smoke-free ways of taking nicotine began a new era. But tobacco control, like many military leaders, continues to want to fight only using the weapons available at the last war. @jgitchell.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Altria report 2025 results Q2 & H1. Smoke free products increased sales but strong competition from illegal smoke free products. Sales of combustible cigarettes own brands & others shrinking. Worth looking at @ianamossyd.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social edge.sitecorecloud.io/altriaclien9...

Tobacco in Swedish snus pasteurised. This kills (almost all of) bacteria producing carcinogenic Tobacco Specific Nitrosamines. Restricting snus = protecting cigarettes = protecting cancer. Australia should make it easy for smokers to switch to snus @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Excellent summary of airbrushing inconvenient truth: Roy Morgan polling found that Australia’s failed vape policy recently increased smoking in young adults! Problem is demand, not supply. @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social

PMI customer numbers for non-combustion products continues to grow rapidly @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Now beyond argument Australia’s extremist cigarette excise & quasi prohibition vapes complete failure sparking huge & now violent black market, punching multi billion $ hole in annual budget & Roy Morgan says increasing smoking. Response? Smear critics. Made up factoids @ianamossyd.bsky.social

Yet another media rocket up Australia’s failed cigarette tax & vape policies! Media now starting to notice these policies are a real disaster @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jamomartin.bsky.social @edjegasothy.bsky.social archive.is/kjVxQ

Really? Cigarette consumption in US peaked in 1960s & has been falling slowly ever since. Decline in US smoking rates accelerated after 2010 when vaping and other safer, smoke free nicotine options started replacing deadly cigarettes. @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social

2/2 ❓ Are they good for quitting cigarettes? ➡️ vaping is world’s most popular and world’s most effective quit smoking aid ❓ How can we protect kids from vaping? ➡️main aim should be encouraging more adult smokers to switch from cigarettes to vaping

1/2 ❓ Is vaping safe? ➡️99% safer than deadly cigarettes which they replace ❓ What are the health effects of vaping? ➡️adverse effects are minor but vaping should always be compared with smoking @sanho.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social

FDA has authorized a handful of nicotine vapes because: - they are safer than cigarettes - they help smokers quit - almost no teens use them PROBLEM: 90% of adults who smoke or vape don't want the flavors FDA authorized. Surprise. Artificial ashtray flavor is unpalatable to people who need them.

Since vaping became popular in US, ~2010, including introduction of JUUL, number of people using nicotine has fallen. Nicotine is about as important as caffeine. But smoking in young people, much more important issue, has fallen to historically low levels. @chancethegardener.bsky.social

Why am I so confident tobacco harm reduction will eventually defeat THR denialists? Cos tobacco company financial reports show safer, smoke free nicotine options inexorably rapidly replacing deadly cigarettes @chancethegardener.bsky.social philipmorrisinternational.gcs-web.com/static-files...

Senator did you know your posting was completely wrong? Adult smoking is serious public health problem. Better if kids didn’t vape but it’s a minor problem compared to adult smoking @chancethegardener.bsky.social

Wow it's almost like harm reduction works, like I was taught in both my pharmacology and criminal law classes back in 2006... who woulda thunk it

Nothing to see here! Quick! Move along now! Hurry up! @aliveadvocacy.bsky.social

Overwhelming majority of funding for drugs goes to law enforcement ie customs, police, courts, prisons etc with minimal if any return on investment. Much better return when spent on drug treatment & harm reduction - but always starved of funds. @sanho.bsky.social @harmreductionintl.bsky.social

ABC piece, like many others before, has usual talking points of anti vaping crusaders. Quotes opponents but not supporters. Balance? Tobacco industry didn’t develop vapes. A smoker did. Good thing that Big Tobacco is transforming from deadly cigs to safer smoke free www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

How can we tackle vaping misinformation when it's being spread by leading public health authorities? In her #GFN25 keynote Maria Papaioannoy set out the problems facing THR, and the ways advocates are busy countering vaping misinformation in uncertain times.

@alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @drbfreeman.bsky.social A reminder of what has happened.