"Sweden is 17 years ahead of the rest of Europe in terms of the proportion of smokers in the population. How did we get here?"
This is the question posed by Smoke Free Sweden in a live seminar on harm reduction and the Swedish model of snus, e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.
Scientists and doctors from around the world will gather on Tuesday to discuss harm reduction for smokers and how the use of smoking tobacco has drastically decreased in Sweden over the last 20 years.
"With less than 5% of the population smoking, Sweden is approaching its goal of becoming a smoke-free nation. This is 17 years ahead of other EU countries that want to reach the same goal by 2040" writes organization in a press release.
The key issue is alternative nicotine products - where Sweden is the only country in the EU to allow the sale of snus alongside e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches and analog cigarettes. Snus was banned in the EU just before Sweden joined in 1995. Since joining, Sweden has a permanent exemption to sell snus.
Few smokers in Sweden - but many snus users
Currently, 20% of the male population and around 10% of the female population use snus. Smoking among men is currently below 5%. In just 10 years, smoking overall in Sweden has fallen by 55%. This is something for all health policy makers in the EU to consider, says the association Health diplomats, which is behind Smoke Free Sweden.
"We think we need to tell you about the pros and cons of the Swedish model. How has it worked to 'persuade' Swedish smokers to switch from cigarettes to less harmful nicotine products?" Says Anders Milton, doctor and spokesperson for Smoke Free Sweden at the launch of the seminar.
Provide information on relative risks
Anders Milton holds, together with nicotine researcher Karl Fagergström, New Zealand addiction researcher Marewa Gloverand the doctor and 1TP8 expert Konstantinos Farsalinos, presentations during the day. The aim of the seminar is to encourage authorities across Europe to learn about and communicate to smokers the relative risks of nicotine use.
"Authorities should be clear and inform consumers who do not want to quit or need their nicotine about the alternatives to cigarettes. And encourage them to switch." says Anders Milton.
In conjunction with the seminar, the organization Health Diplomats also releases the report "A smoke-free Sweden - a roadmap to eliminate cigarettes".
Finally, some heavyweights taking the lead!
We may have been fooled by the authorities who insist that low smoking rates in Sweden are linked to paternity leave. Who knows?
Is it the same in car accidents? Is the reduction in serious injuries and deaths not due to damage-minimizing cars with seat belts and lots of airbags and crumple zones, but simply because Sweden has generous paternity leave?
It's strange that harm reduction is viewed so differently depending on the area.
In the alcohol sector, there has been a deliberately successful campaign since the 1970s to shift Swedish alcohol consumption from strong spirits to weaker alternatives.
In traffic we have already gone through how to work with it inside the car but everything in traffic like pedestrian crossings, speed limit, bicycle helmets, traffic lights, gpng and bike lanes etc are all harm reduction measures.
On the lake we wear life jackets and on the ice we wear ice studs, which is injury minimization.
Buildings are constructed according to Swedish building standards and fixed electrical and plumbing installations may only be done by qualified personnel, which is damage minimization.
We do not sell dangerous medicines without a prescription, and we are restrictive about prescribing antibiotics for harm reduction reasons.
Just about EVERYTHING in our society works because of harm reduction and yet our politicians say that when it comes to tobacco, harm reduction is absolutely not a viable option.
Judge for yourself but I think we are being duped
Yes, the best thing would be if vejpning was not opposed here in Sweden and more alternative products such as snus could be sold and imported in the rest of the EU, although I personally believe that various forms of e-cigs, both the regular ones and the "heat-not-burn" ones, the ones with tobacco attract significantly more smokers to switch. After all, Sweden has a 200-year history of snus use. Then I am personally also completely against the paternalistic idea of trying in various ways to force people to live healthier or just behave in a way that some people in power find desirable.
People have a great responsibility for their lives and health, but many do not understand this.