THR Advocacy & Awareness Van for Australia

An Australian dies of smoking related disease every 25 minutes. This burden could be vastly eased by getting Australians to stop smoking, yet the numbers smoking have not significantly changed in six years. Whatever Australia was doing to reduce smoking rates before, is no longer working.

Pleasurable reduced or no risk alternatives (tobacco harm reduction) to smoking, like nicotine vaping, snus (smokeless tobacco) and heated tobacco products - are all banned in Australia. These products have proven effective for getting people to switch away from smoking in other countries. Swedish style snus has resulted in a daily smoking rate of just 5% in Sweden. This is the lowest rate of any country in the European Union. The smoking rate in Iceland has dropped below 5%. Purchases of heated tobacco products have caused a reduction in cigarette sales in Japan by over a third in less than 5 years. Nicotine vaping is popular in many countries around the world, especially in the United Kingdom where health authorities are encouraging smokers to switch.

Australia smokers need to be informed of the alternatives to deadly smoking, health authorities & tobacco control need to be called out on their opposition to these products and regulators need to be encouraged to reverse the bans on import and retail sale of reduced risk tobacco and nicotine products.

In this effort, please support Andrew Thompson in the creation of a Tobacco Harm Reduction advocacy van - The Nicomobile. Andrew is a former smoker (of 29 years) now a vaper (mostly, but also occasional snus / HTP user) living in Sydney, with close access to our national capital, Canberra. He has contributed to every major inquiry into nicotine and THR in Australia, as well as a variety of other inquiries and calls for comment around the world. He was one of the first to join the (now defunct) New Nicotine Alliance (Australia) & rose to the position of Vice President. He has been tirelessly promoting THR on social media and in every other medium open to him. He is also the creator of The THR Blog.

Now Andrew wants to take advocacy to the road, to smokers at public events and to the legislators in Canberra who can overturn the bans on reduced risk tobacco & nicotine products & make them available to Australians. Please help him to do that with a contribution. Every dollar helps. 

We have just 6 months until the delayed regulations to impose fines up to $220,000 for nicotine import & possession kick in. For maximum effect, we need to get the van bought, fitted out and in Canberra within two months. 


See Also

- Australia’s ban on nicotine importation lifted…for now. "Vapers cannot rest. Over the next 6 months, vaping advocates will need to build a case to stop the proposed regulations altogether. Hundreds of thousands of Australian lives depend on it."Dr Colin Mendelsohn 
- Do We Really Want More Smokers?  "There are now six months to ensure that a move which would cause ex-smokers to take up smoking again never comes to pass. There is time for Australia to catch up to the countries where vaping is supported and smokers are quitting in greater numbers." Dr Joe Kosterich 
-  Vaping 'victory' is far from a win, just another LNP con. "The last thing any vaping consumer or advocate should do right now is declare victory, pack up and go home. It is an absolute necessity to continue to fight to make sure this ban is never implemented." Chris Mordd Richards 
- Angry Vapers Force Australian Health Minister to Back Down  ".. now is the time for vaping consumers and businesses to push their MPs for a sensible, permanent solution." Jim McDonald 
- Australia delays nicotine ban after backlash from vapers "As Donald Trump found out last year, you don't mess with vapers." Christopher Snowdon