On November 9, GSL Strategic Advisor Brooke Campus, GSL Associate Director Patrick Fafard, Jessica St. Pierre, and GSL Director Steven Hoffman published a study comparing the regulation and incentivization of e-cigarettes across 97 countries.
While e-cigarette use continues to grow across the globe, we still don’t know the long-term effects of vaping or how effective e-cig use is in stopping people from using tobacco products. This uncertainty creates unique challenges for governments as they attempt to optimally regulate and positively or negatively incentivize these products in a way that maximizes the public’s health.
Approaches to e-cig regulation and incentivization range from a singular focus on health protection, whereby policies intend to prevent the dangers of e-cigs, to a singular focus on using e-cigs for harm reduction, intending to reduce the more harmful smoking of tobacco.
Regulation options include prohibition, component ban, and regulation as medicinal products, poisons, tobacco products, consumer products, and/or unique products. Incentivization options include taxation, subsidization, and providing a financial reward.
The goal of our study is to inform future decisions by governments on how they approach the public health challenge posed by e-cigarettes, building on a nuanced understanding of the complexities of this challenge and what other jurisdictions have already implemented and learned.
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