How aggressive tobacco control regulations hurt small businesses

According to the Financial Stability Board (FSB), there are 5.6 million small businesses in the UK. What’s more, they account for three-fifths of employment and half of private sector turnover.

Politicians love to sound the horn about their support for small businesses. And yes, there are grants, tax breaks, startup loans, mentoring courses, and more that help entrepreneurs and small business owners. However, in the UK and beyond, this support counts for nothing if misguided regulations can dismantle your business model and your livelihood.

Small business owners felt the power of lawmakers during COVID-19. As global governments and health bodies flex their muscles over nicotine pouches and other harm-reduction products, it’s time to look at who will end up footing the bill.

The wrong type of entrepreneur

Alternative nicotine products like nicotine pouches and vapes are a net benefit for the UK economy. Some of the advantages include:

• Employment in research, retail, distribution, and manufacturing
• The alternative nicotine product industry contributes income tax and VAT to the treasury
• The industry is fast growing and contributes to GDP and growth
• When people stop smoking, they have better health outcomes and are less reliant on an overburdened and underfunded NHS.

While the above info is UK-focused, according to business analysts, the global industry is worth more than $30 billion. It has a compound annual growth rate of around 30%, which isn’t far behind the heady growth estimates for AI.

The Tobacco Control community wants to dismantle this thriving industry. These clowns honestly think their policies will hurt Big Tobacco, but that is based on:

• General ignorance about how commerce works
• A complete misunderstanding of the alternative tobacco industry
• Lack of awareness of the presence of cottage-industry e-liquid manufacturers
• Denial about who actually manufactures devices and disposables.

In the UK, there are around 3,500 specialist vape shops. There are significantly more stores and outlets that sell nicotine pouches and vapes as part of their other offers, like phone repair shops, newsagents, petrol stations, etc.

Sadly, the largesse of Tobacco Control bodies means they can lobby governments, fund pre-determined “scientific” research, and run dishonest yet well-capitalised advertising campaigns that pump misinformation into the minds of the populace.

The annual Ash survey shows that the number of UK adults who believe that “E-cigarettes are a lot more, more or equally harmful as cigarettes” was 22% in 2018. In 2023, that figure was an embarrassing 39%. The same “alternative facts” machine is being turned on nicotine pouches.

This situation is absolutely shocking. Not even the most Machiavellian tobacco industry strategist could have pulled this off. But, somehow, 4 in 10 people have been fooled into thinking that smoking is as or less harmful than e-cigarettes. A further 25% don’t know.

How many people who smoke will not try safer alternatives because they have been misled?

The research on nicotine is there, but it’s not being promoted enough by the media. In fact, in many cases, they are playing an active part in ensuring UK citizens do not have the data they need to make informed choices about their health. They ignore positive studies, write misleading headlines, and, too often, amplify illegitimate voices with the “right opinion”.

Because of the lies of Tobacco Control and lazy and compliant media outlets, many governments feel like they have support for their misconceived policies. The consequences range from deaths to job losses and reduced economic activity.

In light of the recent Post Office scandal, this all feels raw. Those law-abiding citizens were emblematic of the entrepreneurial spirit governments say they want. However, in simply trying to provide for their families and communities, their lives were torn apart by a well-capitalised authority staffed by a privileged class of antiheroes who abandoned their duty of care to falsify and suppress critical data.

While regulations like the Australian vaping ban may not have a fallout on the scale of the Horizon Scandal, the toll it takes on individual small business owners will be devastating. Factor in the lives lost by hindering access to harm-reduction products that help people stop smoking, and it might be in the same ball park.

Exact data is hard to pin down, but there are thousands of vape shops in Australia. Big Tobacco does not own these businesses; they are mainly privately owned ventures. It’s these entrepreneurs who will take the hit because of anti-scientific tobacco control regulations.

Final thoughts

Small businesses are the backbone of our economies. Governments say they support them and want to see them thrive. However, policies based on laughable science, propaganda, and old grudges against an adjacent industry will potentially destroy the industry and cost small business owners their livelihood.

These people are enemies of hard-working, tax-paying small business owners. Big Tobacco will continue to turn a profit long after these enterprising owners shutter up for the last time, their ambition to support their families a distant dream.