The UAE approved the sale of synthetic nicotine pouches—subject to sellers meeting safety standards set out by the government—with the hope that the smoke-free nicotine alternatives entering the market would be helpful in helping people quit smoking. Smoking rates remain relatively high in the UAE and Middle East in general, with 12% and 20% of the people smoking, respectively.
The UAE vaping market is expected to be worth $78 million this year, according to market analysts Statista.
UAE officials pointed to the potential nicotine pouches showed elsewhere, particularly in Europe. With the help of alternative nicotine products, Sweden slashed smoking rates and transitioned toward harm-reduction public health policies on tobacco, reducing rates of lung, lip and oral cancer, as well as oesophageal, and stomach cancers considerably since 1980.
“We have replaced cigarette smoking with alternative nicotine products, pouches, and that has really had a dramatic impact on the public health here in Sweden,” said Patrik Hildingsson, director of oral category communication at Philip Morris, producers of the globally popular Zyn nicotine pouch. “Cigarette smoking is harmful to health, there is no doubt about that. To reduce the harm, you need to quit, but many people just don’t, they stay with their cigarettes. For these people, we need to give them alternatives to get out of the combustions, the smoke process, and the chemicals that come with burning a crop.”
