On April 23, 2026, Michael Smerconsih interviewed me about the UK Generational Smoking ban. I surprised him by arguing that generational smoking bans are bad public policy because they divert resources from more effective tobacco control policies that had faster public health benefits. I am also skeptical that they will be maintained in the long term as people age into them. We also discussed the recent reemergence of claims that nicotine is a beneficial recreational drug, including nicotine pouches such as ZYN.
I made a mistake in the interview when I said that the UK law banned nicotine pouches. I was wrong; it bans sales to people under 18, but like e-cigarettes, allows unrestricted sale to people over 18. This is another example of how the UK law blocks products youth aren’t using and exempts those that youth use.
Check it out here:
Stanton Glantz blog 