Nicotine pouches are a tobacco-free product and represent a new category of products that contain nicotine and are used by placing the pouch in the anterior maxillary vestibule (the area of the oral cavity between the upper lip and the gums). These products are sold in some countries as pre-portioned pouches similar to “snus” – a tobacco-based product. Unlike “snus”, which contains processed tobacco leaves as a basic component, nicotine pouches do not contain tobacco, but nicotine as an active chemical substance.

According to the Department for Inspection Affairs of the Ministry of Health, nicotine initially stimulates, then depresses and paralyzes the cells of the peripheral autonomic ganglia, the brain (especially the mesencephalon) and the spinal cord, and that nicotine poisoning does not cause specific histological changes. , signs of the caustic effect of nicotine appear on the mouth, pharynx, esophagus and stomach. The lethal dose of pure nicotine is about 40 mg (0.6 mg/kg, 1 drop), the amount found in 2 g of tobacco (2 cigarettes), but tobacco is far less toxic than one might expect from its nicotine content, because it has low bioavailability. During smoking, the largest amount of tobacco is burned, but during combustion, numerous compounds with carcinogenic effects are created.

The Office for Combating Drugs, taking into account everything highlighted, recognized the importance of the necessity of regulating the legal status of the mentioned products, and on that occasion organized a meeting where representatives of all relevant institutions gathered in order to adopt a position on how to solve issues related to the regulation of nicotine pouches and “snus”. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Health – Department of Border Sanitary Inspection and Department of Sanitary Inspection, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Finance – Tobacco Administration and Customs Administration, Ministry of Internal and Foreign Trade – Market Inspection Sector, Ministry of Tourism and Youth, Ministry of Education, The Ministry of Justice and the Institute for Public Health “Dr. Milan Jovanović Batut”, where each from their area of responsibility, presented their views and activities related to the topic of the meeting.

After the meeting, where opinions and experiences and professional knowledge were exchanged, the Office prepared Information on the necessity of urgent regulation of nicotine pouches, which proposed to consider the issue of adopting a Decision on the temporary restriction or ban on the import of nicotine pouches, as well as considering the possibility of changing the existing ones regulations of the Ministry of Health, which would regulate the issue of nicotine pouches, and which could be changed in the short term, and referred the same to the Government for consideration.

In order to precisely define and regulate “snus” as a type of tobacco product, as well as consider the issue of regulating nicotine products and possibly expanding the subject of regulation of the Tobacco Act to include products that do not contain tobacco, the Tobacco Administration launched an initiative for changes and amendments to the Law on Tobacco and the formation of a Working Group in whose work a representative of the Office for Combating Drugs will participate.