NCSCT Service Guidance On E-cigarettes
The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) has updated its guidance for NHS Stop Smoking services to include vaping.
The site offers downloads and advice for services and has recently (December 2021) updated this.
It is great to see that e-cigarettes are to be encouraged as part of Stop Smoking services.
I quote:
“The purpose of this document is to help English stop smoking services to make e-cigarettes (vapes) available to their clients. It makes the case for providing e-cigarettes as an option for your clients alongside medicinally licenced stop smoking products, addresses common misconceptions and concerns, and offers a checklist for the types of things to consider when deciding how your service will provide clients with access to vaping products.”
They also say…
“Advising smokers on the relative risks of nicotine-containing products compared to smoked tobacco is an integral part of supporting them to quit. “
I bloody love how fortunate we are in the UK to have such support for vaping in our health service and long may it continue.
You can read the full guide here – NCSCT Service Guidance On E-cigarettes (PDF) plus lots of other resources.
Burnout…
If you are a passionate Anti-Smoking Vaper seeing all the bad news from around the World trying to damage vaping can get pretty disheartening.
INNCO (International Network of Nicotine Consumers) are acknowledging this by having a free Webinar to discuss this and strategies to cope.
Great Vape Advocate Charles Gardner, Ph.D. says…
“Many ex-smokers who quit with safer nicotine have been “tireless” advocates for safer nicotine alternatives for over a decade. But the bad news keeps coming. Drug harm reduction advocates faced exactly the same problem: Advocacy Burnout. Advocates on the side of “good and light” get tired. I feel it. You feel it. Let’s talk about it.”
Charles Gardner is the CEO of INNCO and will be one of the featured guests plus the advocate / reviewer Grimm Green.
So if you want to join in with the chat on 3rd March 2022 visit this site to register – Are You Feeling Burnout?
Therapeutic Nicotine – Join The Conversation
We are so used to the word “Nicotine” having very negative connotations – such as “Nicotine stained” (eeew) and being associated with smoking diseases.
As many vapers know – Nicotine itself does not cause the damage smoking does – it is all the additional ingredients present in tobacco that does the bad stuff.
Anyway to counteract this negative image INNCO and other vape advocates are making “Therapeutic Nicotine” the topic of the month for February and sharing studies which show that Nicotine can actually be used for good causes such as aiding ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Tourette’s etc etc.
The first thing most of us think of when seeing the words “Therapeutic Nicotine” will be stop smoking aids such as patches, sprays and vaping which provide nicotine in a safe way to wean people off smoking.
You can of course find this conversation on social media by following the hashtag #TherapeuticNicotine and if you see any particularly interesting posts please make sure to share them on and try to reduce the stigma of being a Nicotine user.
More details here – INNCO Topic Of The Month.
Here are a few of the related Tweets…
#TherapeuticNicotine #SNEWS
“…our study provides evidence for the feasibility and tolerability of transdermal nicotine in a small sample of adults with severe Autism Spectrum Disorder symptoms and pathological chronic aggression and irritability.”https://t.co/iZbNHUTz2N— Safer Nicotine Wiki (@SaferWiki) February 15, 2022
#TherapeuticNicotine #SNEWS
“After he did not respond to traditional therapies, a nicotine patch was prescribed with success. “#Narcolepsy https://t.co/O45s4n7BaF— Safer Nicotine Wiki (@SaferWiki) February 14, 2022
#TherapeuticNicotine #SNEWS
“Treatment with a nicotine patch can be an effective therapy in epilepsy patients with nAChR gene variants.”https://t.co/JVTcyshkgi— Safer Nicotine Wiki (@SaferWiki) February 9, 2022
Another great article discussing this is found on the NCBI (National Centre for Biotechnology Information) website and here is the opening paragraph…
Using MRI technology, scientists at the National Institute On Drug Abuse found activation of areas of the brain on areas which control attention when they have been exposed to Nicotine to back up this theory.
The article continues to explain how Nicotine is absorbed and the results on the body and is very interesting reading. It is quite an old article now but really shows this research has been around for quite a while. Read the article here – Nicotine As Therapy.
Vape Vending Machines?
Oh yes this appears to be a “thing”!
I hope they work better than any snack or drink vending machine that I have ever used! They either swallow your money or don’t properly dispense the actual item you wanted. Of course that is when they are working or actually have products inside – which when found in a hospital corridor is not very often.
Anyway I digress, an article on “The Grocer” website – aimed at the retail sector – states that there will be a trial of Vape Vending machines on the way in the UK!
The first of these trial machines will be installed in the Leicester branch of Ecigwizard for 12 months and apparently will be distributed to a “Household name grocery retailer” too?
It isn’t as simple as just chucking some coins into a slot though, you will have to pre-register on an app and confirm ID and age via ID service “1Account”.
Then you select the product you want, open the app and verify by scanning a code. Pay with a card and then hopefully your desired product will be expelled by the machine in some fashion.
London based 1Account are providing the software and London based machine manufacturer Aeguana are producing the machines.
Hmm not sure what to make of this, who will keep them restocked? Is the technology reliable enough? Will the prices and locations be favourable? Who knows – hopefully after the trial more will be revealed!
Full story here : The Grocer – Vape Vending Machines Coming To UK Grocery Stores In Trial.
Swap A Ciggie For A Vape!
Although we have already shared the press release for this – one vape brand “Zovoo” is offering to exchange a cigarette for one of its Dragbars.
The details are a bit vague so far – there are several different “Dragbars” which have different battery and e-liquid capacities – and are all disposables. I have not seen any indication of which device this campaign is offering.
Apparently you can perform this exchange at a local Zovoo store – whether that means a Distributor / Vendor or one of their own stores is not stated. I have not seen any Zovoo stores listed in the UK but the products are on sale in various online stores.
This initiative is supposed to be launched on 14th February 2022. The Zovoo website is not showing any info about this as yet though!
However their Facebook page has the following post…
I think this is a great idea, epic marketing for a new company and a great way for a smoker to get an introduction to vaping without shelling out too much dosh. Let’s hope other manufacturers will offer something similar in the future!
Smoking Versus Vaping Toxicant Exposure…
A paper has been published by the JAMA Open Network on 10th February 2022 examining the toxicant exposures related to Smoking, Vaping and Dual use.
The findings are looking really promising.
Just to summarise those who smoked Cigarettes or used Cigarettes + E-cigarettes (Dual Use) were subject to higher levels of toxicant exposure than those who vaped or used neither.
Hopefully the decision-makers of the world will take notice of this!
Read the full article “Exposure To Toxicants Associated With Use And Transitions Between Cigarettes, E-Cigarettes and No Tobacco”
Anyway that’s it for this week – let us know your opinions on the above stories in the comments section below!
Tata for now!
well if they can take cbd without thc and call it medically beneficial then why can we not have nicotine without the 6 thousand chems that are with it in a cig. Surely that is also medically beneficial.
Nicotine is medically beneficial to the plants it comes from.