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Regulatory Confusion Is Keeping Smokers Hooked on Cigarettes

March 25, 2025
by Goldwater Institute

Adult smokers should be free to make choices that help them quit smoking. But Arizona’s regulatory framework continue to treat all tobacco and nicotine products as equally harmful, subjecting safer alternatives to excessive taxation, bans, and other restrictions that deter their use.

That’s why policymakers should use a commonsense approach to define the terms “cigarette” and “smoking tobacco,” clearly distinguishing combustible tobacco products from safer alternatives like e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, and avoiding regulatory measures that equate vastly different measures of risk. Instead, regulations should be structured to clearly differentiate between high- and lower-risk alternatives.

Unfortunately, regulatory inconsistency makes it harder for adults to transition away from smoking. When safer products are regulated as harshly as the most dangerous ones, consumers receive a misleading message that there is no benefit to making the switch. This not only stifles innovation but also reinforces smoking rates, contributing to preventable disease and death.

Research shows that 70% of Americans who smoke want to stop, but smokers who attempt to quit “cold turkey”—i.e., without counseling or medications—are rarely successful. Should the government really be making it harder for them to access safer alternatives?

Instead of penalizing communities, policymakers should break down the barriers that stand in the way of access to healthier, safer alternatives to smoking.

 

 

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