Mexican Hard Line Costs Lives
Mexico’s hard line on safer nicotine products is costing thousands of lives, says a major new report by the harm reduction experts at Smoke Free Sweden
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by Dave Cross
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A major new report released recently by the harm reduction experts at Smoke Free Sweden warns that Mexico’s hardline approach to safer nicotine products is backfiring, fueling a smoking crisis that is killing 65,000 Mexicans every year. The groundbreaking paper shows that while Sweden has virtually wiped-out smoking through harm reduction policies, Mexico’s prohibitionist approach has seen smoking rates climb to dangerous new heights.
The report, Tale of Two Nations: A Comparative Study of How Mexico and Sweden Are Faring in the Fight Against Smoking, presents compelling evidence that progressive strategies built around safer smoke-free alternatives far outperform prohibition-based policies.
Since 2009, Mexico’s adult smoking rate has risen from 16.5% to 19.5% – an increase of nearly one-fifth – while Sweden’s rate plummeted to just 5.3% – a 54% reduction. Sweden now boasts the lowest smoking prevalence in the European Union, and the lowest rates of lung cancer and other tobacco-related diseases.
Dr Delon Human, report author and leader of Smoke Free Sweden, told Planet of the Vapes: “The evidence is undeniable, Sweden’s embrace of harm reduction has dramatically reduced smoking and minimised smoking-related diseases, while Mexico’s prohibition of safer alternatives is failing its citizens.
“The choice for Mexican policymakers is clear: continue down the failed path of prohibition or embrace the harm reduction strategies that have made Sweden a global leader in tobacco control.”
In Mexico, in addition to the 65,000 Mexican lives lost each year to smoking, tobacco use causes 430,000 new cases of smoking-related diseases.
In contrast, the report points out, Sweden has achieved the lowest tobacco-related disease and death rates in Europe, including a male lung cancer death rate 61% lower than the EU average.
Smoke Free Sweden says: “Sweden’s success stems from making safer alternatives such as snus, nicotine pouches and vapes accessible, acceptable and affordable for adult smokers. Key elements include legal market access, proportional taxation favouring less harmful products and evidence-based policies recognising the vast difference in harm between combustible cigarettes and smoke-free alternatives.”
Despite mounting evidence, Mexico banned vaping products in 2020 and doubled down on that prohibition two years later, creating (according to Smoke Free Sweden) “a flourishing black market that removes quality controls while failing to prevent access”.
Dr Human concluded: “Sweden has provided a clear roadmap for Mexico to pursue its own smoke-free ambitions and save tens of thousands of lives.
“The path forward is simple, and Mexican leaders hold the power to rewrite this tragic narrative: make safer alternatives legally available, tax them less than cigarettes, educate the public about their relative safety and regulate them properly instead of banning them.
“Safer alternatives offer an escape route away from deadly cigarettes and give smokers their best chance to save their own lives. Mexico needs harm reduction, not prohibition.”
Smoke Free Sweden says it is a movement which encourages other countries to follow the Swedish model when it comes to Tobacco Harm Reduction. It believes that Sweden’s smoke-free success can be attributed to its open attitude towards regulated alternative nicotine products.
References:
- Smoke Free Sweden - www.smokefreesweden.org
- Tale of Two Nations: A Comparative Study of How Mexico and Sweden Are Faring in the Fight Against Smoking - https://smokefreesweden.org/wp-content/themes/smokefreesweden/assets/pdf/tale/SFS-2N-Mexico-v-Sweden-FINAL.pdf
Photo Credit:
Photo by stephan hinni on Unsplash, resized, cropped and report image added
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
