Banning flavours and severely restricting the supply of e-cigarettes. This is what the Norwegian government is proposing. Now users are calling on all Nordic vejp users to speak out. And they have the support of researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
The user association Norsk Dampselskap urges vejpers in Norway and Scandinavia to protest against the Norwegian government's planned flavour ban on e-liquid.
"Our health politicians want to ban all flavours except tobacco. This means that if you prefer fruit or other flavours in your vejp, you will be forced to use tobacco flavours instead." the association writes in a petition.
'Only affects older vejpers'
Norsk Dampselskap believes that the objective of the ban, to prevent minors from trying e-cigarettes, is understandable, but that the consequences for adult users cannot be justified.
"The average age of Norwegian vejpers is 47.5 years! Children and young people are not the problem here! We support the protection of children and young people, but should it really be at the expense of adults? We already have age limits for buying e-cigarettes," the organisation writes in its petition.
Same rules as EU
The debate on e-cigarettes and nicotine has been going on for a long time in Norway.
E-liquids and e-cigarettes with nicotine are currently banned from sale in the country, but the government at the time promised a change in 2018. The idea was that Norway would implement the same rules as EU countries and authorise sales with the same restrictions and opportunities.
Flavour ban for e-cigs
But the decisions took time and it soon became clear that the new nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes, would be regulated differently in Norway.
Today, the government is proposing a ban on flavours for nicotine liquids (but not for nicotine pouches). It also proposes a ban on internet sales for both white snus and e-cigarettes.
Criticism from addiction researchers
The proposal has been heavy criticism from user groups and business owners. But researchers at the country's authorities also see problems with the legislation. Snus is currently the most popular tool for those who quit smoking in Norway. Next on the list are e-cigarettes, according to a study from Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
"1 in 3 smokers stated that they would consider using e-cigarettes instead of cigarettes if they ever quit smoking. E-cigarettes thus have a much higher likeability than both snus and nicotine medicines. A flavour ban will reduce the number of smokers who can make a harm reduction switch" said Karl Erik Lund, nicotine and addiction researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in his criticising the government's draft new legislation in 2022.
Sweden kept flavouring
Just last year, the Swedish Parliament voted against the Social Democratic government's proposal to ban all flavours except tobacco flavour in e-cigarettes. Instead, the Parliament decided to investigate the possibilities of introducing harm minimisation in tobacco policy.
