CAPHRA (Coalition of AP Harm Reduction Advocates)

Which works better: prohibition or practical regulation? Countries embracing regulated THR (e.g. NZ, Philippines): Faster smoking declines Higher switching rates Smokers don’t respond to bans. They respond to better options. #Regulation #THRPolicy #PublicHealthStrategy globenewswire.com/news-release/2…

Warning over illicit tobacco and organised crime: ‘Time is running out’ – The Front Page nzherald.co.nz/nz/time-is-run…

The Netherlands banned vape flavours. Youth vaping doubled. Cigarette use went up. 27% of former vapers said they smoked more or relapsed. And the @EU_Commission pointed to this as a success Just another day in tobacco control industry la-la-land. 🤪 brusselstimes.com/2076002/dutch-…

It’s an election year in NZ so the usual political footballs are being hauled out of the basement. Everything has to sound like an alarming disaster. The black market in tobacco is always there. It wouldn’t be there if no one wanted to smoke. The real problem is the protection racket - protecting the cigarette trade and smoking by denying people access to the alternative products that are rapidly displacing cigarettes🚬. Keeping people smoking is partly by design (manipulated by those profiting from smoking 🚬) and the astounding incompetence of the maleable under-qualified people now in positions of influence. The fastest, less costly solution is to repeal the stupid dumb ban on tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches! Let people have access to another highly effective way to stop smoking. Don’t apply tobacco excise tax to it. Plus, remove the 50% tax on heated tobacco products, if they’re still on the market. Smart and science-based. Other than that the only taskforce needed is one that looks at how to stop the anti-vaping lies propagated to scare people off vaping and back to smoking. Stop funding any health NGO, Trust, or company that is disseminating untruthful, scientifically debunked anti-nicotine slop.

🇧🇩 Bangladesh is reviewing its 2025 vape ban. Course correction is not weakness — it's what better policy looks like. Protect youth. Strengthen tobacco control. Replace blanket prohibition with smart regulation bit.ly/4t7eTlx

Scrap the Ban, Keep the Controls: CAPHRA's Message to Bangladesh CAPHRA supports Bangladesh’s review of its sweeping 2025 ban on vaping and other emerging nicotine products as a chance to replace rushed prohibition with smarter, enforceable tobacco harm reduction policy. globenewswire.com/news-release/2…

“If media coverage magnifies the scare but minimises the scientific objections, people are left with a distorted picture of risk.” h/t @caphraorg scoop.co.nz/stories/GE2604…

“When a study is heavily criticised by qualified experts, that criticism should not be treated as an afterthought...If media coverage magnifies the scare but minimises the scientific objections, people are left with a distorted picture of risk.” bit.ly/4cvlDUj

New Substack post: How to eliminate the tobacco industry. Two ways... clivebates.substack.com/p/how-to-elimi…

MANILA, Philippines, April 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a new position paper, CAPHRA reminds governments in Asia Pacific that they do not need to choose between sovereignty and human rights in public health policy. The right to health supports strong national decision making. It does not weaken it. globenewswire.com/news-release/2…

Once again, Australian scientists have rushed out alarming claims built on weak and indirect evidence only to have the global conversation immediately shift to the real question,will this misinformation push people back to cigarettes? At some point, repeating the same overreach doesn’t make the science stronger it just makes the “experts” look less credible. @Anne_Ruston @jamomartin @drjoesDIYhealth @MarewaGlover rnz.co.nz/news/national/…

They Already Told You Their Conflicts. You Just Weren’t Meant to Notice @jamomartin @drjoesDIYhealth @Anne_Ruston @MarewaGlover @caphraorg open.substack.com/pub/09algor/p/…

It’s great that Ben Youdan @ASHNZ2025 was given some airtime to counter the earlier @radionz report of a rabidly anti-vaping so-called ‘study’ out of Australia. Radio NZ should have sought expert opinion first though. The so-called ‘study’ was so poorly done — multiple serious methodological errors — that it should never have passed scientific peer review. That is was published anywhere reveals the dumbing down in academia — the loss of scientific ethics, the loss of knowledge of how to conduct rigorous scientific research — research that would actually advance scientific knowledge, contribute to human advancement and that would garner respect from senior scientists instead of ridicule. A lot of the so-called Tobacco Control ‘scientific’ research published in journals is not science as such. There is one type of paper I call advocacy research. There is no scientific aim. The sole purpose of such papers is to CREATE “scientific evidence” that the authors can then use to trick politicians into doing what the authors want. Politicians need scientific evidence, so lobbyists create it. Simple. Such advocacy research, as I call it, is just another lobbying strategy like staging a street protest. The problem across academia and scientific platforms is that this type of activity has been employed by academics for so long now, and has expanded, and is taught and promoted as actual scientific work, that new generations of graduates don’t know the difference, and they are now peer reviewing for scientific journals! Filth writing such as opinion pieces or claimed scientific critiques that are nothing but an ad hominem character attacks on competitors is another category of academic-led anti-vaping/prohibitionist output. This type of work borders on breaching academic standards of professional behaviour. In a way media, such as, Radio NZ can’t be blamed for giving airtime to junk ‘study’ claims that get published in scientific journals. Mainstream media seem to only care about train wrecks.

The Ministry of Effective Change "Welcome to the Ministry of Effective Change, where outcomes are declared before they are observed and nowhere is this more visible than in tobacco control." @jamomartin @drjoesDIYhealth @Anne_Ruston @caphraorg @Clive_Bates @ArielleSelya @jgitchell @JulianHillMP open.substack.com/pub/09algor/p/…

@Algore09algor @drjoesDIYhealth @jamomartin @Clive_Bates @caphraorg @MarewaGlover @Anne_Ruston @JulianHillMP So True. The comparative 'safer' for tobacco control, and Public Health seems to be eradicated from their word-web. They fear it like the devil the holy water. But they happily join into singing-like monks do- "It's still not safe, It's still not safe, ... !" in heavy rotation.

Nicotine products should not be criminalised because of a rise in illicit “zombie vape” products, says the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/vaping-ne… @caphraorg #vape #vapingnews #illegalvapes #zombieVape

The Enforcement Illusion: When Stronger Laws Produce Weaker Outcomes @jamomartin @drjoesDIYhealth @Anne_Ruston @caphraorg @JulianHillMP open.substack.com/pub/09algor/p/…

Australia has already seen: Over 200 arson attacks Multiple homicides linked to illicit tobacco Key Insight: Demand doesn’t disappear — it relocates. scoop.co.nz/stories/GE2603…

When Policy Cannot Recognise Its Own Consequences @jamomartin @drjoesDIYhealth @Anne_Ruston @JulianHillMP @Mark_Butler_MP @caphraorg @MarewaGlover @Clive_Bates open.substack.com/pub/09algor/p/…

1⃣ It makes the less-harmful product much harder to get. You don't need approval from a doctor, pharmacist, or store clerk to buy cigarettes. They are available nearly everywhere. Making e-cigs harder to get puts a huge barrier in the way of accessing a safer product.

Low risk alternatives to cigarettes, such as vapes and oral nicotine pouches should be sold everywhere where combustible smoking products eg cigarettes are sold. It should be a condition of getting a license to sell cigarettes 🚬.