Spain Slammed for Protecting Smoking
Spanish politicians has been slammed for blocking access to reduced risk nicotine products such as vapes, and stand accused of protecting cigarette smoking by international health experts. The country’s two main political parties - the Popular Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) - have voted to confine the sale of vaping products and nicotine pouches to specialist stores.
Smoke Free Sweden tells Planet of the Vapes that the motion, passed in the Joint Congress-Senate Commission for the Study of Addiction Problems, will significantly reduce availability of safer nicotine alternatives for adult smokers in a country where tobacco-related disease kills 49,510 people every year.
The organisation believes that by constraining sales to a handful of specialist outlets means most adult smokers, who buy their cigarettes in supermarkets, corner shops, kiosks and petrol stations, will rarely cross paths with a safer alternative.
“With these products tucked away off the high street, smokers lose both the places to buy them and the everyday exposure that allows them to discover that less harmful options exist at all”, said Dr Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden.
He added: “Smokers cannot switch to options they never see and never hear about. When the safer choice is hidden behind a specialist counter while the cigarette stays on every supermarket shelf, the policy is protecting cigarettes.
“Evidence from countries like Sweden shows that increasing access to smoke-free products, not limiting it, is key to driving down smoking rates. Policies that make these products harder to obtain risk protecting cigarettes rather than public health.”
Data shows that despite decades of traditional tobacco control policies, Spain retains one of the highest smoking rates in Europe.
Between 2007 and 2015, daily smoking prevalence rose to 30.8%, before gradually declining following the emergence of safer nicotine alternatives. Even today, the organisation says, smoking prevalence remains unacceptably high, with more than one in four Spaniards still lighting up.
Despite this rampant problem, alternative nicotine products such as vapes are facing new restrictions, and the latest proposal comes amid broader regulatory uncertainty in Spain.
The government’s draft Royal Decree amending Royal Decree 579/2017 - part of its Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Tobacco Use 2024–2027 - remains under review following its notification to the European Commission under the TRIS procedure. The draft includes a series of highly contested measures, including a ban on flavours, stringent packaging requirements and severe restrictions on nicotine pouches.
Dr Human continued: “Of particular concern is the proposed nicotine limit of 0.99 mg per pouch, a threshold widely regarded by experts as so low it would render the products ineffective for adult smokers, amounting to a de facto ban.
“Spain risks repeating the mistakes seen elsewhere, where excessive restrictions have fuelled illicit markets and discouraged smokers from switching to less harmful alternatives.
“If policymakers are serious about reducing smoking-related disease, they must ensure that safer products remain accessible, affordable and acceptable to those who need them.”
