Thinking 'bout THR Newsletter
Thinking 'bout THR Newsletter
September 6-8, 2024
Inaugural 988 day in the US
People do not commit suicide. They die from suicide. There is a difference, and it is enormous.
The semicolon represents resilience, strength, community and hope for people facing mental health challenges.
In a sentence, it signifies a pause, not an end. It connects two related but independent thoughts. For those of us living with mental health challenges, it represents a pause in life’s sentence, not an ending. It is our reminder to keep moving forward, not stop.
It is used as a symbol to help end stigma around mental health and suicide.
September is Suicide Awareness Month. September 8th is the inaugural 988 day to raise awareness for suicide prevention and the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline. I am grateful to see that crisis lines are available in many countries.
What does all of this have to do with a THR newsletter? I’m glad you asked! As most of you know, people with mental health challenges and/or substance use disorders smoke at a higher rate than the general population.
It is not advantageous to ignore that they smoke, as a large number of them will die prematurely from smoking-related causes. But we can’t focus on just their smoking because those living with a mental health challenge or substance use disorder are also at higher risk of dying prematurely from suicide. It’s essential to focus on the wellness of the whole person, not just one segment of their lives.
Raising awareness about mental health and suicide is as important to me as my desire to help people who smoke. They all land in my “lived experiences” file.
Now is an excellent time to pause (;) and thank a couple of friends who are my “safe” people. (They will know who they are.) These friends are one of life’s greatest gifts. I’m here today because of their kindness and compassion.
As I struggle to manage my depression, they are always here for me, never judge me, and make it OK to openly talk about how I’m doing, even when I want to die.
They offer endless support and help me sort through my thoughts and feelings. They have an endless supply of empathy and strong shoulders to lean on. They’ve made it OK to say I’m not OK.
One of the most important things to me is helping people. These friends have helped me find my voice and learn to be brave enough to use it to help others. They have invested countless hours with their unending support to help me see that I have potential and that I am worthy.
As an autistic person, I have always struggled to connect to others the way I’ve connected with them. There are no words to express how grateful I am for their friendship.
To all of you, it can be uncomfortable to talk about things like depression and suicide. For those living with depression, it can be a fear of being a burden. It’s not knowing what to say or do for their family and friends.
We need each other. The most important thing is to care, to be open and honest. Sometimes, words aren’t needed. Sometimes, just being there is all it takes.
For those of you who tell people like me that dying from suicide is “selfish,” you are a million miles away from the truth. Your words are hurtful and stigmatizing. When I am in crisis, I am not being selfish. I need love and support, not judgment.
As someone who knows people who have died from suicide, I want you to know that it is a confusing way to lose someone, and it is easy to blame oneself for someone else’s death, for not knowing, for not doing enough. People experiencing that kind of loss need a lot of love and support for a long time, not just the day of the funeral.
Suicide is hard to understand. We want to blame someone when there is no one to blame. The best way I can describe suicide is to look at it as a life-threatening illness. Sometimes there is a cure or remission, and sometimes there isn’t.
If you’d like to learn more, I recommend this piece by the Nerdy Girls: What can I do to help prevent suicide?
Until next time….
New Approaches to Tobacco Smoking Cessation Among People Who Use Drugs. The panelists combine expertise and lived experience with substance use disorders and the staggering number of people in that community who smoke tobacco.
Across the Pond Episode 24: Allison Boughner.
Top 3 Most Effective Methods to Quit Smoking, According to New Scientific Review. “A comprehensive scientific review has identified varenicline, cytisine, and nicotine e-cigarettes as the most effective strategies for quitting smoking, especially when combined with behavioral support.”
Mexican Warning. “Dr Roberto Sussman has issued words of warning about a very worrying and ominous development on the prohibition of vapes in Mexico.”
“The Forgotten Substance”—Harm Reduction Vaping Groups in Portugal. “Restrictive policies that take away options and rely on stigmatizing behaviors don’t work in public health. The tobacco harm reduction movement is a consumer-driven movement. Without pressure from consumers, no significant progress would have been made.” … “The second step, which isn’t easy because there is an international establishment that ignores scientific developments and prefers to stir up fears about the tobacco industry, is to truly recognize the role of tobacco harm reduction as a public health strategy. We need more voices advocating in this direction, and for health care professionals to seriously get involved in this cause.”
The Case (Study) For Flavours. (UK) “If I’m honest, I didn’t realise how much smoking was affecting my health until I started to experience rapid improvements from vaping. Suddenly, I wasn’t feeling breathless and that stubborn cough, which I had put down to ageing, was gone – after just two months it was blindingly obvious that I was physically better.”
Senator calls for different approach to vaping laws. (Tasmania) “Ms Tyrrell says she agrees with making the products more prohibitive where children are concerned, but fears making them harder for adults to get their hands on will create a market for illegal products.”
Survey finds just 1 in 4 could identify nicotine pouches if they saw them, but they are skyrocketing in popularity. “Ohio State's recent survey showed that 70% of adults believe nicotine pouches are harmful to health and lead to addiction, but just 25% say they could identify a nicotine pouch out of its container or packaging.”
UW-CTRI Earns $3.8 Million Grant to Test Nicotine Pouches to Replace Smoking. “It’s a question of public health,” said Co-Principal Investigator and UW-CTRI Researcher Dr. Thomas Piasecki. “The toxic byproducts of tobacco combustion are responsible for a great deal of the health harms caused by smoking cigarettes. If people can switch from cigarettes to nicotine pouches, that would likely be a win for public health.”
Vaping could reduce harm caused by smoking. “Despite years of public health campaigns and smoking cessation programs, millions of Americans are still addicted to cigarettes. Over 15% of Iowans still smoke.”
The events listed below focus on nicotine. Some do not support reduced-risk products. Some have covered nicotine in the past but may not cover that topic every year.
Sep 8-14, 2024 National Suicide Prevention Week
Sep 8-11, 2024, Atlanta, GA, US - 77TH TOBACCO SCIENCE RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Sep 9, 2024 (Virtual) - Mindfulness Training for Smokers *FACILITATOR TRAINING.
Sep 9, 2024 (Virtual) - Webinar Series: Clearing the Air: Steps to Going Smokefree.
Sep 10, 2024, 10 AM ET, Washington DC, (In-person and virtual) Chairs Rodgers and Guthrie Announce Health Hearing with Heads of FDA Human Foods Program and Tobacco Center. On the agenda: H.R. 9425, Tobacco User Fee Modernization Act of 2024 (Rep. McClellan)
Sep 10, 2024 (Virtual) 11:00 AM CT - PAVe Dangers of Youth Vaping: What Parents Need to Know in 2024.
Sep 11-13, 2024, SCHAUMBURG, IL, US (Industry specific) - CSP Tobacco+ Forum.
Sep 12, 2024 (Virtual) - Design and effectiveness of a vaping cessation intervention for adolescent e-cigarette users: Results from a randomized trial.
Sep 16-17, 2024 (Virtual) - 7th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction by SCOHRE
Sep 17-19, 2024, Geneva, Switzerland - World Cancer Congress (Includes sessions about tobacco.)
Sep 20, 2024, (Virtual) 2:00-3:00 PM ET - TOPS Tobacco Online Policy Seminars.
Sep 20, 2024 (Virtual) - Conversations on Cancer: National Hispanic Family Cancer Awareness Week.
Sep 23, 2024, NYC, NY, US - New Approaches Conference
Sep 24-26, 2024, Athens, Greece - GTNF
Sep 25, 2024 - World Lung Day
Sep 27-Oct 1, 2024, Orlando, FL, US - American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition. Monday, Sept. 30: “What’s All the Buzz? New and Emerging Nicotine Products Addicting Youth,” Brian King, Ph.D., M.P.H
Sep 29, 2024 - World Heart Day
Sep 30, 2024, 11 AM BST (Virtual) - Behavioural Research UK: Causality, evidence and policy in behavioural research.
Sep 30, 2024, 8 AM - 6 PM (In-person) London - Nicotine addiction 2024: Action on smoking.
October - Healthy Lung Month
October - Health Literacy Month
Oct 3-4, 2024, Burlington, VT, US (In-person & Virtual) - Vermont Center on Behavior and Health 12th Annual Conference. 2024 Theme: "Tobacco Use: Intersections with Other Addictions, Chronic Disease, and Health Disparities."
Oct 4, 2024, (Virtual) 2:00-3:00 PM ET - TOPS Tobacco Online Policy Seminars.
Oct 13-17, 2024, Edinburgh, Scotland - CORESTA Congress 2024
Oct 14-17, 2024 (In-person) PA, US - Clearing the Air® Institute. American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation
Oct 15, 2024, US (Virtual) - FDLI Introduction to Tobacco Law and Regulation
Oct 23-25, 2024, Lisbon, Portugal - LISBON ADDICTIONS European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies. (Some of the sessions are about tobacco/nicotine.)
Oct 23-25, 2024, Broadbeach, Australia - Oceania Tobacco Control Conference 2024. See list of Conflict of Interest Principles.
Oct 23, 2024, Washington DC, US (In-person and Virtual) - FDLI Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulatory Science Symposium
Oct 24-25,2024, Washington DC, US (In-person and Virtual) - FDLI Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulation and Policy Conference.
Oct 27-30, 2024, Minneapolis, MN, US - 2024 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo (Public Health). Register here.
Oct 28, 2024, Charleston, SC, US (In-Person & Virtual) 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM ET - Susan Rosenblatt lecture: Brian King
Oct 28-29, 2024, Charleston, SC, US (Virtual and In-Person) 2024 NICOTINE AND TOBACCO SCIENCE CONFERENCE
November - COPD Awareness Month
November - Lung Cancer Awareness Month
Nov 6-8, 2024, Harrisburg, PA, 2024 James E. Anderson Pennsylvania Conference on Juvenile Justice. One of the workshops, Restorative Solutions: Rethinking Youth Tobacco, Nicotine, and Vaping Dependency
Nov 13-14, 2024, Accra, Ghana - Africa Conference on Tobacco Control.
Nov 14-15, 2024, UK - SSA Annual Conference. Early bird discounts until September 9, 2024. Professor Ann McNeill will give the Society Lecture at the SSA’s Annual Conference. The title of the talk is, ‘Tobacco harm reduction – controversies and potential resolutions’.
Nov 14-16, 2024, Chicago, IL, US—AMERSA Conference—Note: We won't know until the agenda is announced if nicotine will be part of this year's conference.
Nov 14-16, 2024, Ontario, Canada - CSAM-SMCA 2024 Scientific Conference.
Nov 18-20, 2024, Olomouc, Czech Republic, (In-person) - Czech Annual Cancer Research Meeting. Note: Keynote talks: Prof. David Khayat on Cancer Risk Factors: The Role of Tobacco Harm Reduction.
Nov 21, 2024, Great American Smokeout
December 5, 2024, UK (Virtual and In-person), E-Cigarette Summit UK
Dec 30, 2024, World Safer Nicotine Day #WSND #WSND24
Scroll Down for 2025 and 2026 Events
Check out the public Google calendar of THR-related events created and maintained by Clive Bates. Also, check out the event calendar from Ecig Intelligence. Their listings include consumer/trade shows and expos that I don't include in this newsletter. This is a good resource for information on conferences about addiction/behavior.
Committee Openings
FDLI - Applications for 2025 Committee Service are Now Open. Application Deadline is September 20, 2024.
Wanted: Conference/Seminar Submissions…
TOPS Tobacco Online Policy Seminar call for papers/nominations. The submission deadline is October 7, 2024.
Call for Papers
Themed issue/section on Non-Medicinal Oral Nicotine Products. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024
Tobacco Use in Adolescents and Youth. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024
Tobacco Use, Vaping, Heating, Nicotine Dependence, Smoking Cessation, and Public Health. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024
Cancer prevention. Submission Deadline: 11 October 2024
Mental Health, Stigma and Addictive Behaviors. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2024
Empirical modeling. Submission deadline: 28 November 2024
Generating stronger evidence to inform policy and practice: natural experiments on built environments, health behaviours and chronic diseases. Submission deadline: November 30, 2024
A Means to an ENDS: The Uncertainty of ENDS Use and Cardiovascular Disease From Human Research to Basic Science Mechanisms. Submission deadline: 31 December 2024
Cancer Causes and Control. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024
Factors Associated with Successful Smoking Cessation. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024
Scroll down for 2025 opportunities
Call for Papers
E-cigarettes and Vaping Products: Health Effects and Toxicological Impacts. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 21 January 2025
Thinking Outside the Box to Reduce Health Inequities in Perinatal Tobacco and Nicotine Exposure: A Nicotine & Tobacco Research Themed Issue Nicotine & Tobacco Research intends to publish a themed issue on Prenatal Tobacco and Nicotine Exposure. The guest editors for this issue will be Dr. Natacha De Genna, Dr. Laura Stroud, and Prof. Yael Bar-Zeev. Submission deadline: February 1, 2025.
LGBTQ+ Health. Submission deadline: 04 March 2025
Consumer behaviour. Submission deadline: 25 March 2025
Wearable devices. Submission deadline: 27 March 2025
The Tobacco Endgame in Low- And Middle-Income Countries and Indigenous Communities: Evidence Syntheses and Systematic Reviews. Submission deadline: 25 May 2025
STRONGER Scholars: A Research Education Program to Reduce Tobacco-Related Cancer Disparities and Improve Health Equity. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025
Jan 15-19, 2025 Seattle, WA, US - Society for Social Work and Research.
Feb 13-15, 2025, Boston, MA, US - 2025 AAAS ANNUAL MEETING. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
Mar 5, 2025 York, UK (In-person & Virtual SCAH - Smoking Cessation and Health Conference.
Mar 12-15, 2025 New Orleans, LA, US - SRNT 31st Annual Meeting
Mar 27-29, 2025 - Phoenix, AZ, US - 31st Nicotine Dependence Center Conference 2025: The Evolving Tobacco Landscape and Implications for Policy and Practice.
April 15-17, 2025, Arlington, VA, US - American Tobacco & Nicotine Forum (ATNF), formerly the TMA Annual Meeting & Conference (I’m not aware of a link available to the event yet)
Apr 27-30, 2025 - Bogotá, Colombia - 28th edition of the Harm Reduction Conference (HR25)
June 2025, Bangor, Maine, US - 2025 Tobacco Treatment and Prevention Conference.
Aug 26-28, 2025 Chicago, IL, US - The National Conference on Tobacco or Health (NCTOH) (Link is to the announcement, not event info)
Sep 10-12, 2025 Romania - SRNT-E Conference.
Nov 17, 2025 (all week) Geneva - FCTC COP11
Nov 24, 2025 (all week) Geneva - FCTC MOP4
Mar 4-6, 2026 Baltimore, MD, US - SRNT 32nd Annual Meeting.
Sep 6-9 2026, Cape Town, South Africa - 18th World Conference on Public Health.
Notes:
I create these newsletters as a personal project. They are not affiliated with any current or past employers or groups I do volunteer work with. I believe that everyone deserves a seat at the table. If you’re interested in nicotine with a focus on THR, this newsletter is for you.