E-cigarettes, e-liquid and nicotine pouches will become legal in Norway. This is clear after the government's investigators gave their opinion and submitted their proposal to the government. However, although nicotine pouches are likely to keep their flavors, the government is forcing vejpare to choose only tobacco flavors in their e-juice.
"It's absurd" says Frank Tinmannsvik, Norsk Dampselskap.
After a process that lasted almost eight years, vejp users in Norway will soon be able to buy nicotine liquid in local vejp shops. But the Norwegian the government's expected legislative proposals also includes a comprehensive flavor ban. Only so-called "tobacco flavors" will be allowed in flavored nicotine liquids. Frank Tinmannsvik, vejpare, bus driver and involved in the association Norwegian Steamship Company, says the long-awaited proposal leaves many adult users without viable alternatives to cigarettes.
"We have been fighting to be able to buy our nicotine in our Norwegian stores since 2016. We have fought off proposals for extreme age limits and drug classification, and now we also have to fight to the end for all flavors to be allowed for adult vejp users" he tells Vejpkollen.
Criticism from tobacco researchers
The proposal for a taste ban has also been heavily criticized by tobacco researchers in Norway. According to the Norwegian government, the ban will make e-cigarettes less attractive to young people and children. At the same time, it admits that as many as 80% of e-cigarette users use fruit and candy flavors in their vapes. According to Karl-Erik Lund, researchers at the Norwegian Health Authority, the ban is counterproductive.
- These flavors have been on the market since 2014, but it is smokers who use them, not children. I think the concerns of older smokers should be given more weight than those of children and young people in this case. When children and young people use e-cigarettes, it is occasional use from time to time. Adult smokers use it as an important way out of smoking. Karl-Erik Lund to the online newspaper.
Warns of increased smoking
Karl Erik Lund has research on tobacco use in Norway for over 35 years and has previously noted that the proportion of smokers among young people is at a record low in Norway. He therefore believes that the ban is unnecessary and is likely to lead to an increase in smoking in Norway, particularly among older people. He also warns of another development, where the home mixing of e-liquid risks increasing.
"At the same time, we are introducing a ban on online sales and imports. Those vejp users who don't start smoking again or accept tobacco flavors will start experimenting with home-made flavors. This can be dangerous if they don't know which substances are safe to use" says Karl-Erik Lund.
Good with regulation
According to Frank Timmansvik it is good that the sale of nicotine will be regulated. At least to the extent that the 70 or so vejp shops that now exist in Norway can sell controlled products in the future.
"Today we buy our e-liquid nicotine-free in Norway and then we import the nicotine privately, primarily from Sweden. Then we mix it ourselves to the strength we want in the e-liquid," says Frank Tinmannsvik.
The right to choose
It is not uncommon for vejpare to import really strong nicotine, 100 mg/ml is the maximum allowed concentration. The maximum limit for EU regulated e-liquid is 20 mg/ml.
"Being able to buy nicotine with controlled nicotine content over the counter is clearly an improvement for safety reasons. But for me, as an adult, not to be able to buy the flavor I want, with nicotine, in a store is just crazy.
Only the snuff is defended
He also notes that it political resistance against flavor bans in e-cigarettes is weak, compared to a similar ban on flavors in snus and nicotine pouches. According to several statements in the media, a majority of the members of the Parliament will reject this part of the proposal. Flavors are therefore likely to remain in snus and nicotine pouches (which were previously, with some modification, completely banned in Norway).
"Snus is more important to protect, more important than protecting vejpares rights" says Frank Tinmannsvik. "But, it is understandable as snus is long established and e-cigarettes are still seen as something new and dangerous. For me, it is a human right to have access to as many alternatives as possible to cigarettes. For the Public Health Agency of Sweden, it's about limiting that possibility."
"Ignorant bureaucrats rule"
It is not yet clear whether nicotine-free e-liquids are also affected by the flavor restriction. It is not clear from the proposed legal text but according to Frank Tinmannsvik it may well become relevant as well.
"The problem is that this proposal is made by bureaucrats who have very little understanding of how e-liquid and e-cigarettes work in reality. I don't think they have the faintest idea what a shortfill is. The same goes for the politicians who make the decisions, unfortunately" he tells Vejpkollen.
"Illogical reasoning"
The proposal for a new law on nicotine products in Norway is likely to reach the Parliament before the summer recess. Frank Tinmannsvik and Norsk Dampsellskap hope to get the opposition in the Norwegian parliament to oppose the flavor flood bid.
"We hope that enough people understand that the ban is both unethical and illogical. The reasoning behind flavorings in nicotine pouches and snus should also apply to e-cigarettes," he says.
Hope for the Progress Party
"We will work hard to inform politicians about this. The main opposition party, the Progress Party, has always been friendly to harm reduction and vejpning. But as it stands, there is a long way to go before a majority changes its mind on this issue. But we are not giving up just yet," says Frank Tinmannsvik.
Interesting that they want to "ban" flavors in e-juices but not in white snus. Probably because vejpen is considered more "immoral" than snus. Norway, by the way, already tops the "Nanny state index" of European countries. Other countries like Belgium want to "ban" white snus instead. Not a consistent and logical fact-based regulation in any case that benefits consumers.