In Kazuo Ishiguro’s much-loved novel, The Remains of the Day, Mr. Stevens, a faithful and dutiful butler, reflects on his years of service. Stevens is filled with regrets about some of his actions and decisions and is all too aware of the missed opportunities of his tenure. His obsession with dignity has caused him to cleave out a part of himself in service of a greater cause, which the book explores in haunting emotional detail.
As butlers go, Stevens is up there with the best. However, Australian Health Minister Mark Butler, on the other hand, is the opposite of Stevens. He lacks reflection, capacity for regret, awareness of missed opportunities, and dignity.
Butler’s deficit in each of these qualities is seen in his bizarre vape ban. The “rationale” was that it would reduce youth vaping rates; the reality is that it hands over the vaping industry to the black market while jackbooted police enforce Bulter’s warped vision with violence against teenagers. So much for protecting the kids!
You don’t need to be a student of history to know that Butler’s vaping ban would not work. It’s simple supply and demand. If people want a product, and you cut off the legal supply, they’ll find it wherever they can, be it returning to cigarettes, black market vapes, or other nicotine products. Instead of using regulated products, users are forced to roll the dice.
However, as a recent article in ABC News shows, Butler is not the only state employee struggling to wrap their head around the concept of supply and demand.
Australian school teachers seem completely bamboozled by the fact that policies that address supply and ignore underlying demand have failed. Now, it seems like some of their students are switching to nicotine pouches, despite the product being banned for retail across Australia.
Australia and nicotine pouches
I actually feel for the teachers in this whole mess. They’re charged with safeguarding young kids and teenagers, and many parents seem to outsource their kid's behaviour to the school and absolve themselves of any and all responsibility.
The teachers seem baffled by concepts like marketing and the internet. For example, NSW Secondary Principals Council deputy president Charles Gauci says in the article, “It is obviously very much targeted at our young people — bright colours, bright colouring, in locations in shops which are attractive to our younger students."
I hope to God that Gauci isn’t teaching marketing in any capacity for reasons I’ve addressed previously.
Additionally, the article suggests that “While it is illegal to advertise nicotine pouches as a smoking cessation device in Australia, videos promoting the pouches have been circulated widely on social media platforms such as TikTok.”
Conveniently, the author of the piece fails to distinguish between the concept of user-generated content and paid advertisement. I won’t. These are not paid ads, nor are they done with permission from businesses.
However, TikTok influencers like Ella Watkins, Ellyse Perry, Zahlia and Shyla Short, the Fairbairn Brothers, and JackBuzza are paid to manipulate the conversation around alternative smoking products. Their paymasters are the federal government, and as we all know, kids find nothing cooler than government shills. So, let’s see how that works out.
Finally, the article suggests that “lack of regulation means the concentration of nicotine in each pouch can vary wildly, and the labelling can be misleading.” This inadvertently makes a great argument for why these products should be legal and regulated. People are going to access these products, so making them as safe as possible helps protect health.
Final thoughts
Butler’s thoughtless vape ban will push people to other products. Sadly, existing restrictions on healthier products mean that teen smoking is on the rise in Australia, with recent Quit VIc figures suggesting a “[3-fold increase in current tobacco smoking by 14-17-year-olds in just four years, from 2.1% in 2018 to 6.7% in 2022".
ABC News and school teachers are worried about nicotine pouches. That should tell you all you need to know about these people's seriousness and capacity to manage the situation. Mr. Stevens would be aghast at the lack of professionalism, and you should be, too.
