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Protected: Endgame to Failure: How the Zero-Tolerance Campaign Against Nicotine Will Backfire

Ian Irvine
September 21, 2026
About 11 percent of Canadians currently smoke. Cutting that rate in half by 2035 would offer an enormous health dividend. But how to get there? The influential Ontario Tobacco Research Unit recently offered the federal government its advice: crack down not just on cigarettes but all forms of nicotine use, including vapes, oral pouches and heated tobacco products. But as Ian Irvine points out, such a puritanical approach will worsen overall health, increase crime and reduce social equity. Surveying the international evidence and drawing upon his own academic research, Irvine reveals a better path forward.
Stories

Protected: Endgame to Failure: How the Zero-Tolerance Campaign Against Nicotine Will Backfire

Ian Irvine
September 21, 2026
About 11 percent of Canadians currently smoke. Cutting that rate in half by 2035 would offer an enormous health dividend. But how to get there? The influential Ontario Tobacco Research Unit recently offered the federal government its advice: crack down not just on cigarettes but all forms of nicotine use, including vapes, oral pouches and heated tobacco products. But as Ian Irvine points out, such a puritanical approach will worsen overall health, increase crime and reduce social equity. Surveying the international evidence and drawing upon his own academic research, Irvine reveals a better path forward.
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