Alan

250 years ago Adam Smith 1776 used metaphor of “Invisible Hand” describing how producers in economy guided to efficiently produce goods & services people wanted, eg baker making bread, to mutual advantage. Today Big Tobacco is transforming to smoke-free nicotine products @clivebates.bsky.social

The Mark Butler Contradiction in Australia’s Vaping Policy https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2826%2900405-8

The Mark Butler Contradiction in Australia’s Vaping Policy

@alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @crikey.com.au @squigglyrick.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

Well worth listening to Perth GP Dr Joe Kosterich commenting on Australia’s train crash policies on cigarette excise and quasi prohibition of vaping. He’s absolutely right on both counts @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

The Reckoning: When Policy Finally Meets Reality This completes a trilogy that began with a simple observation: in tobacco control, there is a memo that is never written but widely understood.

The Reckoning: When Policy Finally Meets Reality

@alexwodak.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

Czech MEP disappoints with vape tax increase plan The European Parliament’s lead legislator on the EU’s plans to levy higher taxes on safer nicotine products has shocked vapers by proposing to increase taxes on vapes in his report on the…

🚨 MEP @tomaskubin_ claims to support harm reduction, but his actions say otherwise. 🏛️⚖️ By proposing a 40% tax on all vapes, including nicotine-free ones, he is destroying the exit ramp for smokers... 🏁💀 clearingtheair.eu/en/post/czec...

IMF backs harm-based taxes on nicotine products – with lower rates for vapes A new report linked to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says taxes on nicotine products should reflect their relative health risks. The authors say many newer nicotine products “reduce exposure…

🤯 @tomaskubin_ even the @IMFNews knows your tax plan is a mistake. 🏦📉 Their latest report confirms that "risk-based" taxation is the only way to save lives. clearingtheair.eu/post/imf-bac...

Taxing Harmful Habits Taxes on smoking, drinking, and sugar should better align with the harm they cause

“Taxes on smoking, drinking and sugar should better align with the harm they cause"

Rosenberg, C., & Van Oordt, M. (2026, March). Taxing Harmful Habits. International Monetary Fund. IMF. www.imf.org/en/publicati...
@chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

Vape aerosol ~150 low/trace concentration chemicals about as dangerous as cigarette smoke 7000 high concentration chemicals including 70 known carcinogens & carbon monoxide? Really? Sorry @profglantz.com
but makes as much sense as sun rotates around earth, earth is flat @algore09algor.bsky.social

The UK is giving 1 million free nicotine vapes to adults who smoke. 58% of recipients quit smoking completely.

Former UK colony: 100 million Indians smoke deadly cigarettes or bidis. On the advice of WHO, India banned ecigs but kept deadly cigarettes and bidis legal and widely available... 😕

open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

@melissasweetdr.bsky.social @crikey.com.au @squigglyrick.bsky.social @alexwodak.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social

What If Harm Reduction Is Actually an Evolutionary Process? Public health often presents itself as the driver of societal change.

What If Harm Reduction Is Actually an Evolutionary Process?

@alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social
@squigglyrick.bsky.social
@crikey.com.au

open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

1/3 International Monetary Fund:
Price the harm
“But policymakers need to think more broadly about how to change unhealthy behavior.Ideally, the level of taxation should reflect the degree of harm a product is likely to cause while still safeguarding overall revenue. ..”
@algore09algor.bsky.social

Big Tobacco vigorously denied smoking caused cancer when they knew it did.
Big Tobacco Control (eg @profglantz.com) denies nicotine vapes safer than smoking when they knew it is.
What’s difference? @jgitchell.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

What’s difference between
#ClimateCrisis deniers & tobacco harm reduction deniers? Nicotine vapes much safer than smoking. Worlds most popular & most effective quit smoking aid @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @sanho.bsky.social

Imagine if teen use of bicycles dropped 74% over just 5 years.

What would you conclude about the honesty or sanity of someone who claims "bicycles are popular with teens"?

Welcome to the weird world of tobacco control where teen use can drop 74%, and "experts" STILL claim "popular with teeens."

After the Memo: When the Evidence Refuses to Behave If the first part of this story is about the scientists who ignore the memo, the second part is about what happens after they do.

After the Memo: When the Evidence Refuses to Behave

@alexwodak.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

With new drug harm reduction interventions always ferocious resistance at first which only slowly dissipates as evidence gets stronger & stronger. Doesn’t happen like this with non drug new harm reduction interventions @algore09algor.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social

If you run a drug treatment service, why not include some help for smokers to quit? So many people struggling with problems from drugs also smoke. Shown that get better results from drug treatment if quit smoking at same time @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

Because vaping is a Gateway to smoking, smoking rates in young people are plummeting, especially where vaping is very popular
True or False? @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

Which of these comments is wrong?
•John Lennon killed himself
•Vaping is as risky as smoking, maybe more risky?
•Donald Trump is a kind, wise & decent human being
•Harm reduction rarely works
@sanho.bsky.social @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

Meanwhile the Invisible Hand has been quietly doing its work shifting the nicotine market toward safer, smoke-free products that consumers want and producers are increasingly supplying.

New drug harm reduction interventions hated first, then accepted, then appreciated because benefits >>negatives! Think methadone treatment, needle syringe programs, drug consumption rooms, pill testing and now nicotine vaping @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social

MUST READ...

UK addiction doctors back vapes as a stop-smoking option in new clinical guidelines The guideline states there is “high-certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes improve quit rates versus NRT” It says public health bodies agree that “regulated e-cigarettes are significantly less…

Doctors are finally speaking up about flavours. 🗣️ The new UK guidelines note that "non-tobacco flavours are associated with higher quit success." clearingtheair.eu/post/uk-addi...

Sales of combustible cigarettes in Japan fell >50% within 7 years of heated tobacco products going on legal sale. This is unprecedented anywhere else in the world & happened without support from government @chancethegardener.bsky.social @jgitchell.bsky.social @algore09algor.bsky.social

Invisible Success: The Harm Reduction Paradox Public Health Doesn’t Talk About Global public health is obsessed with numbers.

Invisible Success: The Harm Reduction Paradox Public Health Doesn’t Talk About

@alexwodak.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social @squigglyrick.bsky.social
@chancethegardener.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/09algor/...

Study Claiming that Vaping Causes Lung Cancer Fails to Document that a Single Case Occurred After the Person Started Vaping
tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2026/03/stud...

From Crisis to Progress: What the 2025 Youth Tobacco Survey Really Shows New federal data reveal something that should be front-page news: youth cigarette smoking has nearly disappeared—and youth vaping is falling rapidly as well.

“The decrease in cigarette smoking among American youths is one of the great public health triumphs of the present century… Yet few people are talking about it.”
“Shouldn’t we be shouting this from the rooftops?”
Yes we should! @algore09algor.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/cliffdou...

Australian Bloomberg narrative followers now admit sky high cigarette excise caused really horrible unintended consequences eg violent black market but not ready yet to admit Oz has no choice but to start reducing excise @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social

George Orwell discussed propagandists demanding 2+2=5. Bloomberg narrative followers argue 2+2=5 & those not ready to accept this just following tobacco industry narrative @algore09algor.bsky.social @ianamossyd.bsky.social @igas2.bsky.social @jmenezes.bsky.social @melissasweetdr.bsky.social