The Advocacy Gap: Why There's No Powerful Lobby for Harm Reduction
The cigarette industry has lobbyists. The pharmaceutical industry has lobbyists. The tobacco control establishment has lobbyists. Nicotine consumers—the billion-plus people whose lives are at stake—have almost no political representation.
The cigarette industry spends millions on lobbying. The pharmaceutical industry (NRT, cessation drugs) spends millions. The tobacco control NGOs are professionally staffed and politically connected. **Nicotine consumers—the smokers, vapers, and pouch users whose lives are most directly affected by nicotine policy—have almost no political representation. Consumer advocacy organizations exist but are small, underfunded, and dismissed by the establishment. The advocacy gap is the central political fact of nicotine policy.**
