This is from a PBS report in January of last year:

FDA releases plan to make cigarettes less addictive, but its fate rests with Trump

As feared, the plan was lost in the transition to the new Administration, and with it, a long- anticipated effort to reduce the nicotine content in tobacco products.

If adopted, the plan would have applied only to cigars, cigarettes, and pipe tobacco. Other popular products — electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches among them — would not have been affected.

The timing seems right: Adult smokers have declined steadily in number, from almost 50% in the late 1960’s to just 9.9% in the present day. That’s a remarkable achievement, but with more than 25 million adults still hooked, there’s plenty of work left to do.

Why can’t the FDA simply order the elimination of all nicotine from cigarettes?

First, the FDA is prohibited from total elimination of nicotine, by law. I didn’t realize that. I have to think the tobacco industry played a role.

As a result, the FDA now seeks to use regulations to reduce nicotine to levels that are “minimally or non-addictive”, in an effort to keep new users from getting hooked, and to encourage current users to quit— because without sufficient nicotine, what’s the point of continuing?

In the background: worry about the possible expansion of a black market for higher nicotine- content cigarettes and pouches. I’m told that about half the cigarettes sold in our state are illegally sourced — even with plenty of lawful vendors available.

Why? Probably because black market cigarettes are cheaper.

Back to the plan: What outcomes might we hope to achieve if the new limits on nicotine content were imposed?

According to the PBS piece, the “FDA has spent years studying the issue and said… that cutting nicotine would help nearly 13 million current smokers quit cigarettes within one year. Roughly 48 million more young people would never take up the habit because cigarettes would essentially become nonaddictive, according to agency projections.”

I’m sure Big Tobacco doesn’t like hearing that.

By the way, even today, smoking is credited with contributing to more than 480,000 deaths annually in the US alone. By comparison, alcohol is given credit for 178,000 fatalities. And all illicit drugs combined? 70,000.

If the plan ever came to pass, I imagine that the tobacco companies would quickly shift their efforts towards escalating the market for e-cigs, vape devices, and nicotine pouches. I suppose that’s already begun. It’s where the money will be.

Those newer forms are especially promising, revenue-wise, as their nicotine content may actually be substantially higher than traditional tobacco products.  Presumably that makes them even more addictive.

So to me, it’s time to revive the idea of limiting nicotine content. Only this go-round, let’s include electronics and pouches.