"I will never smoke again" - Stories from Sweden

How do Swedes stay smoke-free? That's the question Vejpkollen and Convenience Stores Sweden are asking in a series of reports that can be read on Vejkollen and on Convenience Stores News.

Who are they really? The Swedes who no longer smoke. That was the starting point when I began this series of reports on nicotine use in Sweden. I wanted to interview Swedes, listen to their stories about how they relate to their nicotine use - and how the journey from the first cigarette to a smoke-free life actually happened. In the end, it was eight reports, eight slices of everyday life, eight stories about the art of staying smoke-free in a time when nicotine use is more diverse than ever.

But why do this? Who cares about the smokers of this long country in a cold corner of the world?

Sweden barely smokes anymore

The series of articles is really an attempt to understand the reality behind the claim that Sweden will soon be "a smoke-free country". It's a claim that is widely used, not least by those who advocate harm reduction as a method to reduce the damage of smoking worldwide. Because even though half a million Swedes still smoke, they represent only 6 percent of the adult population. This is really low. According to WHO and EU criteria, it is on the borderline of the definition of 'smoke-free'. This is the 'big goal' of The WHO Tobacco Convention, a treaty that saw the light of day over 20 years ago. But although smoking is declining in many (western) countries, it is going faster in Sweden. Much faster, in fact. We are far ahead of everyone else.

Tough anti-smoking policies?

I once recently asked a influential doctor who works with tobacco prevention in Sweden, what he thought this was due to. He often appears as an expert when the think tank Tobaksfakta holds seminars and as a debater in various media. According to him, and many other activists in the anti-tobacco movement, Sweden's low smoking rate is due to tough legislation and highly successful tobacco prevention: bans, more bans and a good dose of stigmatization. According to a united anti-tobacco movement, smoking has disappeared because of tough and restrictive tobacco policies, which, coincidentally, the anti-tobacco movement has been advocating for decades.

Not a good explanation

The problem with that explanation is that Sweden has not been alone in taking this hard line against smoking. We have seen similar legislation in many other countries, basically every European country has tough rules in place, rules based on The WHO Tobacco Convention. The EU average is 23% smokers. In Sweden, it is six percent. Among young people, the figures are even lower. Tough rules don't seem to be the key here, it's obviously something else. Also.

The role of snus?

Sum most people already know, a lot of people in Sweden use snus. Almost 20% of men. 10 percent of women. Among young people, where less than 2% smoke daily, it has continued to decline as the use of nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes increases. The use of e-cigarettes and white snus is particularly noticeable among young women, a group that has always smoked more than men in Sweden.

An alternative explanation for why so few people smoke in Sweden seems to be the preoccupation with alternatives to cigarettesamong both adults and young people. We see a similar patterns in Norway and for those who raise their eyes and look at countries like United Kingdom, New Zealand and Japan you can see a similar patterns as in the Nordic countries. An exception is Finlandwhere Swedish snus has not been allowed to be sold for 20 years and e-cigarettes are severely restricted through a tasting ban. In Finland, 14% of the population smokes. Recently, however, the Finnish government released the sale of nicotine pouches, with the idea that regulate them as tobacco products.

A successful combination

I personally believe that the explanation for our low smoking rates in Sweden is not so simple that it can be found in either one or the other. Behind those 6 percent are thousands of complicated stories. It's not just about an anti-smoking policy OR the availability of alternative nicotine products. Rather, it is about reactions and interactions, sometimes in line with the policy, sometimes as a backlash against the policy, sometimes completely outside the policy. How many smoking Swedes became curious about snus and nicotine pouches since the smoking ban in pubs became a fact? How many 20-year-olds have picked up a slick and colored disposable cigars in the convenience store when they go to a party, just because they look better than both cigarettes in the convenience store? This probably matters more than our authorities will ever accept. But that doesn't make it any less real.

Pleasure and stigmatization

A common thread is the realization that water always seeks the easiest way down the mountain. Nicotine use has many dimensions. The bond that many people have with smoking is not just about an addiction to nicotine. It is as much about a social connection, about self-confidence, self-image and of course pleasure. We rarely talk about smoking as something PLEASANT, just as a bad habit. It's a very narrow view, a stigmatization, driven by an ideological fight against the tobacco industryin that leaves no room for empathy or understanding of what smoking really means to an individual. It is unfortunately indicative of a rather skewed view of human nature and a simplified view of reality.

Addiction - sink or swim?

The people in the portraits talk about these prejudices. Many are told that they are 'cheating' and that they haven't really quit smoking, that they have 'traded one addiction' for another. And it's contagious. According to studies, this is inadjustment one of the most common obstacles for a smoker who cannot quit smoking. Maybe worth a series of articles in itself? Who knows?

Quitting smoking is about coming to terms with your vices. Accepting them. For some, it's easiest to just throw them overboard, for others it's about shifting the burden. Alternative sources of nicotine are one of many ways to let the water flow, without clogging important outlets that cause dams. Allowing the load to become a buoyancy aid, instead of a burden. This, if anything, is something that more anti-smoking advocates and opinion leaders should take on board, instead of actively counteract it.

Stories of the non-smokers

As I write this, the debate is raging about various restrictions on the very products that are central to the people in the portraits. Is it not about on taxes it is about flavorprohibition or marketing bans. In Sweden, our politicians have voted down such any such measures, by 2022 at the latest.

In the stories I'm trying to highlight, the availability of strawberry-flavored e-cigarettes, citrus-scented snus, and berry-sweet nicotine pouches plays a crucial role. As does tobacco-flavored snus. It's about moms, dads, grandmothers, grandfathers, sons and daughters who no longer smoke. In a country that is almost smoke-free.

Stefan Mathisson
Reporter and publisher in charge
Vejpkollen

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Vejpkollen has collected the reports under the heading "Smoke-free country". (opens in a new tab!)

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And here you can read variations of the reports in Convenience Stores Sweden News:

Björn Åslander - e-cigs - "It must taste like smoke"

Nikita Lövheden in Partille - e-cigs and heets - "Can't stand tobacco flavors"

Therese Johansson - from W.A.S.P to nicotine pouches - "One day I want to quit nicotine too"

Håkan Friedrich - After 40 years, he switched to e-cigs and nicotine pouches’

Miirza Kadovic - e-cigs - the same feeling with coffee - but healthier and cheaper

Kent Andreasson - Doing well without cigarettes - but not snus

Amanda Seguel - She is not worried about nicotine addiction

IQOS helped her stop buying cigarettes