Finding Good In Something Deemed Bad
Thinking 'bout THR Newsletter June 25-July 1, 2025
What if nicotine is helpful to some people?
The United States is preparing to celebrate another Independence Day. As people celebrate their freedom, there will be flag-waving, fireworks, barbeques, and parades. Plenty of businesses will remind Americans that they are also free to spend their money at the annual 4th of July sale. Profit-seeking is not limited to the tobacco industry. It is the American Way.
While many of us in this space focus on helping people break free from smoking, and some also work to encourage people to live nicotine-free, I have a side interest in exploring reasons why some people might be better off using nicotine.
Those are the people who wish they could be free of what ails them or at least experience a measurable reduction in the symptoms that adversely affect their quality of life. Their loved ones often share that wish as well.
One of those families was mine. I met my future father-in-law, James J. Murray, Jr., after his wife passed away. Jim was born in 1913, the same year as my grandparents. He was the son of a German mother and Irish father. He was proud of his heritage. Times were tough when he was young; he quit school after the 6th grade so he could work and help his parents support his many younger siblings.
He grew up in Wisconsin and, as an adult, moved to Minnesota. He took pride in being a hard worker, and in addition to his job, he cleaned the church and maintained the grounds of the church cemetery. He was a feisty individual who always spoke his mind, yet he was also a kind and generous person. He was more of a Dad to me than my father.
He lived two hours away from us, and eventually, we moved him to the home at the other end of our long driveway so that he could maintain his independence and we could be right there for any help he might need.
He loved to be active. He was long retired when I met him, but he still wanted to work. He bought tools wholesale and sold them at flea markets. For a couple of summers, after he got too old to do that on his own, I helped him. He loved meeting people and could strike up a conversation with anyone.
He loved going to the Eagles club. He attended church, went to lunches at the Senior Citizen Center, and went to all the senior citizen dances at the American Legion. Eventually, macular degeneration adversely affected his vision, and after two car accidents, we had to take his car away from him. Shortly after that, he became legally blind, which was hard for him to adjust to.
His later requests in life were few. He wished to prove his military service, never wanted to end up in a nursing home, and aspired to live to be 100 years old. I promised him I’d do everything in my power to honor those wishes.
I became his caregiver. He remained active, but needed us to drive him where he wanted to go. Eventually, someone from his church volunteered to drive him to and from church, but they didn’t sit with him. When he fell down the stairs at church, he had to stop attending services unless I could accompany him.
As he aged, his mind started to fail him. We had to disconnect the gas to his stove when he got to the point where he would forget he was cooking. I prepared all his meals for him, and he warmed them in the microwave. Eventually, it was no longer safe for him to live alone, even though he was right up the driveway from us.
Luckily, our neighbors across the highway from us used to run an adult foster care home in their home. It was like a group home for elderly people. They took him in, and he lived the last four years of his life there. My promise not to put him in a nursing home was kept.
As his memory failed him, all his friends and most of his family stopped coming to see him. He became angrier and belligerent. He lost his concept of time, and a couple of minutes alone could feel like an eternity to him. It was heartbreaking to watch as he sat in the chair, often yelling repetitive things. “Is anyone out there? Answer me, yes or no. My name is James J Murray, Jr. Why isn’t anyone talking to me?” or “I want to die. Why can’t I die?”
He was a healthy person, and we, along with his new caregivers, did everything we could to keep him as healthy as possible. He did live to be 100, but all the joy of achieving that goal was sucked away from him as his memory faded further and further away from the present. He couldn’t even remember it was his dream to be a centenarian.
By the time he passed away, he couldn’t remember his children and their families. He thought he was back in time, back in Wisconsin. He often thought I was his nurse or wife. He died a few months after his 100th birthday. I would have given just about anything if there were a way to stop Alzheimer’s. It is a hideous thing for a person to live with.
Proving he was a veteran was a challenge. Many military records from the era he served in were lost in a fire that destroyed the records storage facility in Chicago. By the time I worked on this, his memory wasn’t reliable, and he couldn’t give me the needed clues to expedite my search. And even when he gave me clues, they weren’t always the right ones. He was correct; he was on a base in Wisconsin, but he gave me the name of the wrong base.
I didn’t prove his military service in time for him to receive medical services from the Veterans Administration. Still, thanks to my genealogical skills, I was able to verify his service, and he was honored as a veteran at his funeral. We were presented with a flag, folded into a neat, crisp triangle. Sadly, by the time I found the necessary proof, his mind no longer allowed him to remember how badly he had wanted this, so he didn’t get to experience the joy of that mission being accomplished.
My great-grandfather also had Alzheimer’s, and his story was similar to my father-in-law’s. It is a tragic way to live, forgetting what you enjoyed just a few minutes ago, memories of your loved ones gone. I follow studies on ways to help people maintain their memory with great interest. I find it interesting that nicotine is one of the things being researched to help with this memory-robbing disease.
There are several interesting connections between nicotine and the slowing of things that can adversely affect humans. Unfortunately, more in-depth research has not been conducted in this area. I volunteer with the Safer Nicotine Wiki team, and we have dedicated an entire page on our website to things we’ve found about nicotine's potential therapeutic benefits. We are currently adding more research to that page.
Sometimes, people can’t wait for science to catch up, and they become citizen scientists, conducting their own research and seeking solutions that will help them or the people they care for. Two groups come to mind when I think about this—those with Long Covid and people dealing with Myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). These groups have found scientists to team up with as they share their lived experience with researchers. Together, they are figuring out what to use, how often to use it, and at what dose. Some of them are experiencing solid results using nicotine patches!
To learn more about the work to alleviate the symptoms of Long Covid and ME/CFS, the following might be of interest to you:
Renegade Research - you can follow them on X (formerly Twitter).
Remission Biome - you can follow them on X (formerly Twitter).
#TheNicotineTest -- Citizen Science - you can follow them on X (formerly Twitter).
It is nice to see this topic get some press, such as this article from a few days ago: Some people are turning to nicotine gum and patches to treat long COVID brain fog, even if there were some concerns about what information was not included and information that might have leaned too far into fear-mongering about nicotine (such as conflating it with smoking).
I was pleased to see that Jean-François Etter is also examining the potential benefits of nicotine for some individuals, even if some of his findings are not as encouraging as mine. He recently published a piece titled: Let's imagine the nicotine and tobacco market 10 years from now, in 2035. In it, he wrote: “We can imagine that nicotine will be marketed not just for smoking cessation, withdrawal relief or hedonic use, but also for other indications, such as mood enhancement, cognitive enhancement (e.g. for concentration), as a stimulant, or to treat diseases, but nicotine treatment does not appear to be effective for ulcerative colitis, Parkinson and Alzheimer’s, even though it may have positive cognitive effects in people with cognitive impairment.”
The potential for some people to experience therapeutic benefits from nicotine is another reason why we must continue to correct the many misperceptions about this much-hated molecule. Until we know more, now is a good time to “never say never.”
Until next time…
P.S.: People sometimes laugh when I show them the products that are always in my backpack. I have nicotine patches, nicotine lozenges, nicotine pouches, and a couple of different vapes with me at all times. I use nicotine to mitigate what I experience because I have ADHD. My executive functioning, emotional regulation, and ability to focus are all inconsistent.
I like nicotine better than prescription medications because I can adjust the dose to suit my needs constantly. Sometimes, I need a little help, and other days, I need a lot of help. Nicotine does not give me the unpleasant side effects that Adderall did. I am not advocating this as a choice for others with ADHD. I am only sharing what works for me and why.
I don’t have to keep going to the clinic to get a doctor to authorize a medication refill, nor do I have to make a special trip to the pharmacy to pick up meds. When a medication shortage occurred (due to DEA restrictions and supply chain issues), I was not affected by it. I don’t have anyone looking over my shoulder to see if I’m illegally selling my meds to some college kid who wants to pull an all-nighter to study for finals.
Nicotine is available just about anywhere I go and in multiple forms. While I prefer to vape, I can’t always do that, so the other products fill the void when I’m somewhere vaping isn’t allowed. I sometimes wear the patch to help keep my brain quieter so I can sleep.
Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab. “A first-of-its-kind trial to compare vapes with combination nicotine replacement therapy (cNRT) – patches, gum, and lozenges – in people leaving smoke-free drug and alcohol rehab facilities was published today in the prestigious journal, The Lancet Public Health…People recovering from substance use are more than twice as likely to smoke as the general population—and far more likely to suffer and die from tobacco-related illness…At the nine-month follow-up, around 10% of people in both groups reported abstaining from smoking – a notable achievement in a cohort where long-term quit rates are typically near zero…This isn’t about one therapy outperforming another—it’s about building a system that gives people the best chance to succeed.” (The study can be found here.)
Misleading about e-cigarettes. “Withholding information on the differences in harm for tactical reasons, also "in the service of the good cause" of deterring youth from nicotine use, is, in our view, unethical and will undermine our credibility as a provider of health information.”
GFN Considers Vape Misconceptions. “Fear-driven narratives about safer nicotine products such as vapes means prolonged misery and death for smokers, according to participants at The Global Forum on Nicotine.”
Jul 1, 2025 1:00 PM CDT (Virtual) - Increasing Media Literacy to Build Trust and Advance Health Truth-Telling. “In an age where misinformation can spread like wildfire, empowering individuals with critical thinking skills and investigative research techniques is essential for fostering healthier communities.”
Let's get real about free speech. "Too many people believe in something closer to freedom from speech rather than freedom of speech," says attorney Greg Lukianoff. In a timely talk, he warns against the rise of "mob censorship" — and reminds us why free speech is the best check on power ever invented.” (Video)
Sluggishness and defensiveness helped enable an executive order on research integrity. “Although science is driven by data, politics and public opinion are shaped by anecdotes and storytelling. Thus, pointing out that many of these incidents are the result of a small number of actors does nothing to change the political narrative. The sluggishness of journals and institutions to respond to problems in research integrity is also fodder for criticism. But more important, the defensiveness of investigators and institutions in responding to problems severely heightens the suspicion.”
Nicotine Consumer Advocates Share Strategies, Support Amid Hostility. “Leiva told the workshop attendees how he was publicly shunned by a Chilean senator because of his advocacy work on vapes. The senator accused Leiva of being part of the vape industry, and said that together they were “the new pedophiles of the 21st century.”…“My advice is never take hostility personally; it’s often a reflection of fear, ignorance or vested interests,” Leiva said. “Stay informed and always respond with truth, dignity and real people’s stories—that’s how we shift the narrative.”
AMERSA is excited to announce a new podcast series. Stigma and Substance Use: Rewriting the Narrative. (Not nicotine-focused, but similar challenges with stigma.)
When Tyndall and Beaumont Took the Stage . “Tyndall reminded the audience that the history of harm reduction has always been controversial, not because its strategies are weak, but because the bodies it aims to protect are the very ones the system is most willing to discard. And when those bodies smoke, use drugs, fall ill, or resist, they become easier to blame than to care for. It is far simpler to stigmatize them than to confront the structural inequality that shapes their suffering.”
Michael Russell Oration 2025 - "The State of Academic Research on Nicotine" | #GFN25. Speaker: Arielle Selya
Importing Panic | U.S. Influence Drives Global War On Nicotine | RegWatch. Guest: Bill Wirtz, senior policy analyst at the Consumer Choice Center.
Dr Carolyn Beaumont - “Language matters. Surely it’s time to agree on a globally accepted terminology for all alternatives to smoking. NRT, NVP, ANDS, ENDS, and e-cigarettes are the main ones that I think of. And to a lesser extent HNB. My personal favourite? None of these, and I’ll explain why…”
Mazen Saleh - “So let me get this straight: A philanthropist with zero health qualifications hands a tobacco control award to the Government of India — the single largest shareholder in ITC, the world’s third-largest tobacco company. Conveniently, e-cigarettes are banned in India, allowing the government to keep profiting from combustible tobacco…and receive accolades for it…”
Banning What Works: Smokers Across Europe Are Being Left Behind. “The debate over how to regulate nicotine is reaching a fever pitch across Europe, with a growing disconnect between public health intentions and the actual outcomes of proposed policies. In countries like Croatia and Spain, recent regulatory moves—rushed consultations, heavy taxation, and near-prohibitionist restrictions on safer alternatives—risk derailing tobacco harm reduction efforts that could save countless lives.”
Achieve Life Sciences Announces Submission of NDA to FDA for Cytisinicline as a Treatment of Nicotine Dependence for Smoking Cessation. “If approved, cytisinicline will be the first new FDA-approved pharmacotherapy option for nicotine dependence in two decades.”
The World Needs Gender-Specific Tobacco Harm Reduction. “Women’s smoking behaviors are particularly often influenced by stress, societal expectations, and the intersection of gender and socioeconomic status. While men may smoke openly, women’s smoking is frequently hidden in many cultures, making it harder to reach them with public health interventions.”
Safer Solutions: Grandma Did What?! “…Smoking rates among older Americans have decreased more slowly than in any other age group…In tobacco use, many older adults hold misconceptions about the relative risks of cigarettes versus other products containing nicotine. That may be part of the reason why, in 2021, fewer than 1 percent of people over 65 reported using e-cigarettes—a reduced-risk alternative to combustible cigarettes. Misleading messages in the media and from public health organizations and government agencies deepen the misconceptions about reduced-risk nicotine products…”
Harm Reduction to Heal America. “The same logic applies to smoking: About 11.5 percent of American adults smoke—nearly all knowing it’s dangerous, many not even wanting to quit. Although many public health measures including indoor smoking bans, higher taxes, education campaigns, and sales limitations have contributed to a big decline in smoking, these measures seem to have reached the limits of their effectiveness. The better path is harm reduction: encouraging smokers to switch to far safer alternatives like vapes, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco, and moist snus. These products eliminate combustion and dramatically reduce health risks.”
Vape popularity increasingly challenged by nicotine pouches, research suggests. “It may be that the discreet nature of the product and the perception of social acceptability make pouches a choice for an older demographic…Markus Lindblad, director of Haypp, said: “These results suggest that while the nicotine pouch market is growing rapidly, users are typically a more mature demographic that value the more discreet nature of the product…“It is also notable that many people have started using pouches to transition away from vaping. This could become an important trend in the UK’s drive to go smoke-free while introducing ever stricter regulations on vaping.”
Illinois to start taxing nicotine pouches Tuesday under amended bill. “Nicotine pouches will be taxed at 45% of the wholesale price due to the definition change. Previously, they were not taxed. Vapor products move from 36% to 45% tax of wholesale price, and moist snuff, previously taxed at 30 cents per ounce, will be 45% of the wholesale price…There is no tax increase on cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco or chew, but the annual license fee for retailers who sell tobacco products will double from $75 to $150…The American Lung Association welcomed the tax hike…
Santa Cruz City council “bans the butt,” goes into effect in 2027. “The Santa Cruz City Council made history today in the saga of tobacco regulations, voting unanimously to pass a first-of-its-kind ban on filtered cigarette sales.”
The logic of the slippery slope. “So the domino theory is not patently false, is it? It is patently true. It is perfectly obvious that if you set a precedent it becomes more likely that similar things happen in the future than if you don’t set the precedent. Why, exactly, does this happen so often in politics despite the solemn promise of all involved that it will not? It is, after all, not inevitable. The slippery slope is often described as a fallacy because A does not inevitably lead to B and C. Nevertheless there is a strong tendency for A to lead to C and in ‘public health’ it happens more often than not. What are the mechanisms and can it be prevented?”
Proposal to Halt Tobacco Sales Hits Roadblock in One Massachusetts Town. “A proposal known as the Nicotine-Free Generation (NFG) policy was voted down by voters in Bellingham at the Annual Town Meeting on May 28. By a vote pf 110 to 70, local voters rejected Warrant Article 19, which would have banned the sale of tobacco and nicotine products to any person born on or after Jan. 1, 2004 — even after they reach legal age, according to the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association's (NECSEMA).”
California is America’s cigarette smuggling king. “Our newest estimates indicate that California has become the Golden State of cigarette smuggling. It has the highest smuggling rate among the 48 contiguous states. A heady 53% of all the cigarettes consumed there in 2023 were smuggled. California has displaced New York at the top position, but the Empire State is still a close second with a smuggling rate of 52%. Rounding out the top five are Massachusetts (38%), New Mexico (36%) and the state of Washington (35%).”
More News: Vapers Digest June 25, 27, 30.
5th Circuit, USA - KEALANI DISTRIBUTION, L.L.C.; UNITED STATES VAPING ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED; DIAMOND VAPOR, L.L.C.; JOHNNY COPPER, L.L.C.; SWT GLOBAL SUPPLY, INCORPORATED; CAROLINA VAPOR MILL, L.L.C.; CAROLINA VAPOR MILL WOODRUFF ROAD; CVM3, L.L.C., Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, -v- FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION; MARTY MAKARY, COMMISSIONER OF FOOD AND DRUGS; ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
The WHO's Attack on Reduced Harm. “This 2012 statement, in a report on e-cigarettes produced by the WHO FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control), was made well before tobacco companies moved into the nicotine alternative market, when most vaping companies were small, niche players and the technologies were rudimentary. By pushing for heavier regulatory costs and burdens, the WHO actually aided in allowing tobacco companies to come in and take over the vaping market.”
WHO Defends Malaysia’s Anti-Tobacco Award Despite Nicotine Vape Manufacturing Licence. “The WHO World No Tobacco Day award was conferred to Malaysia in recognition of specific, evidence-based tobacco control efforts and commitments made at the time of the nomination and selection process,” said the WHO in a statement sent to CodeBlue from its media office in Geneva, Switzerland, after the WCTC press conference.”
The Global Echo Chamber: How the WHO’s Tobacco Control Conference Became a Parade of Failure. “The WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was supposed to be about reducing smoking-related death and disease. But somewhere along the way, it turned into a prohibitionist crusade. Instead of embracing new tools like vaping, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products, this conference doubled down on fearmongering, misinformation, and authoritarian control…This was not a conference. It was an echo chamber.”
Tobacco Harm Reduction at FCTC Anniversary. “On the 20th anniversary of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and public health advocates like Martin Cullip are calling out the WHO’s refusal to embrace tobacco harm reduction. Despite overwhelming evidence supporting alternatives such as vaping, nicotine pouches, snus, and heated tobacco, the WHO maintains a prohibitionist stance rooted in outdated ideologies. Critics argue that this blocks progress, wastes taxpayer money, and ignores the lived experiences of millions who have successfully quit smoking using reduced-risk products. They urge governments and civil society to pressure the WHO for reform and evidence-based public health policies.”
GFN25 Celebrates Breakthrough Success In Tobacco Harm Reduction As Evidence Mounts Against WHO Opposition. “Asa Saligupta, from ECST Thialand, participated in a session on 20 years of FCTC with esteemed experts such as Derek Yach and Tikki Pangestu, both of whom helped craft the original treaty, and are well placed to evaluate its importance and intentions towards THR.”
The Right Stuff: Glas Focuses on its PMTAs. “Ironically, Greenbaum argues that the FDA’s failure to authorize compliant, satisfying flavored products has allowed this black market to flourish. “Adults want flavors,” he says. “The absence of authorized flavors has created a vacuum that unregulated imports have filled.” … The consequences, Greenbaum believes, are twofold: the FDA’s own public health goals remain unmet, while companies like Glas—who followed the process in good faith—are left watching from the sidelines.”
New National Survey Shows that Youth Nicotine Product Use Has Dropped to an All-Time Low. “This research dispels the myth that reductions in youth smoking have been completely offset by an increase in youth vaping. It is not the case that the total amount of nicotine product use among youth has remained steady. It has in fact declined and reached its lowest point to date in 2023, driven by dramatic declines in youth smoking over the past decade and by more recent declines in youth vaping.”
Final thoughts…
All the people who WILL NOT die today because they quit smoking before it was too late.
Notes:
I create these newsletters as a personal project. They are not affiliated with any current or past employers or groups with which I volunteer. I receive no financial compensation for my efforts to create these newsletters.
My blog, Skip's Corner, has an X/Twitter account.
My personal accounts are on BlueSky, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter).