The Generation Gap in Nicotine Policy: Who Decides—and Who Will Live With the Consequences?
Nicotine policy is made by older generations who remember the cigarette epidemic—and will affect younger generations who have never smoked. The generation gap creates a tension between memory (the cigarette must be eliminated) and experience (nicotine is diverse).
The tobacco control establishment is dominated by people who remember when smoking was everywhere—the smoke-filled airplanes, the cigarette ads on television, the Marlboro Man. Their formative experience was the cigarette epidemic at its peak. **Younger generations have never known that world. Their experience of nicotine is diverse—vaping, pouches, reduced-risk products. The generation gap creates a tension: older policymakers committed to eliminating nicotine, younger consumers navigating a diverse nicotine landscape. The policies written by the older generation will shape the lives of the younger one.**
