For people in Mexico who have been looking for alternatives to tobacco, and aren’t convinced that vaping is any better than smoking, a new product for those dependent on nicotine has begun appearing in convenience stores around the country.
Mexico has long been going smoke-free in public places, but at the same time alternatives such as patches and nicotine gum disappeared from pharmacies. While in the U.S. and Europe those products are readily available, in Mexico it became impossible even to order them online.
This coincided with the emergence of vaping, which had the advantage of not filling up the area with smoke or leaving a stale smell on fingers, clothes and breath.
Vaping products were banned by the Mexican government on health grounds, although a series of court injunctions filed by companies and associations meant that they continued to be widely available. And the number of people using vaping products increased substantially.
The new non-vaping nicotine option appearing at convenience stores —being sold under the brand name “ZYN”— are nicotine pouches that you put under your upper or lower lip and keep there for a while, absorbing the nicotine through the mouth. Some people may prefer gum or lozenges, but when there’s nothing else you take what you can get. They are priced about the same as a packet of cigarettes.
ZYN is made by a Swedish subsidiary of the tobacco giant Philip Morris and is part of the company’s shift toward smoke-free products, which have become popular for reasons such as those mentioned above. Information about them in Mexico, along with the different presentations and risks (smokers may be shocked to know that nicotine is addictive), is available here.
Without delving too deeply into confessions of a smoker, it might be well to warn those about to celebrate that nothing is necessarily permanent. A congressional committee in August approved a proposed constitutional ban on electronic cigarettes and vaping. Once that is in the constitution, assuming it passes, the courts would have a harder time upholding the current legal injunctions that are suspending the ban. Whether that would extend to non-vaping options is anyone’s guess.
Apparently, “but I thought they wanted people to stop smoking,” doesn’t carry a great deal of weight.
