STRIKING CONTRAST | Science, Politics & the Battle Over Nicotine Pouches | RegWatch

From a higher level, how much of the political and regulatory environment facing nicotine pouches today is a consequence of what happened with vaping?

I think what we're seeing is a very similar dynamic repeat itself.

Because I was working in government affairs back in 2015 and 2016, right around the time that really these products started to take off and get a lot of attention at the legislative level.

Also a substantial amount of backlash from the tobacco control world.

And I think that is the dynamic that I'm seeing play out over and over again, where You see the same state level efforts start to come into play, heavy levels of taxation on the products, flavor bans, retail restrictions, just a lot of barriers that start to pop up that look exactly like the barriers that we were seeing in the vape category.

So much so, in fact, that when I track state legislation.

I am also tracking vapor legislation, not just pouches, because I know that as laws start to move through committees and in and out of chambers, pouches may get added to a bill that's meant to address these cigarettes.

So they often get entangled from a regulatory perspective in a very practical way at the state level.

Dragged in vape's wake, so to speak.

Yes, unfortunately.

I mean, what's... difficult about it is that it's the same trusted public health voices that are saying it's the next jewel.

That's what Zen is often called.

Zen is the next jewel.

And so when I am in a state talking about these issues, I have to go back to the data because I find that quite often I'm up against emotion, I'm up against fear, but it really is that The pouch is being painted as though it's going to be this next gigantic public health problem.

We should get ahead of it.

And the dual comparison comes up a lot.