Nicotine snus is harmful, but there's no way it should be banned

For four years, the state has been planning to ban so-called nicotine products for oral use (bags, snus, snuff, and the like) due to their negative health effects, but the ban has yet to be enacted into law, while at the same time refusing to charge excise taxes on them, explaining that they will be banned.

So these high-nicotine products have remained freely available for 13 years, and they are the only ones without excise duties and without restrictions on purchase. These products are banned in most EU member states or their sale is strictly controlled and subject to high excise duties.

The World Health Organization insists on their harmfulness, especially for younger people. They have been present on the Montenegrin market since 2012, and whether they will continue to be present will depend on the meeting in the Parliament next week.

Topic on Wednesday before two committees

At the initiative of the Head of the World Health Organization Office in Montenegro Mine Brajovic On Wednesday next week, a joint session of the parliamentary committees for economy and health will be held on the topic: "The role of fiscal policy measures in improving effective tobacco control in Montenegro", where the topic will also be the final legal regulation of nicotine products for oral use.

The “Parents” association had been calling for a legal ban on these products since 2021, following reports at the time about their harmful effects. The Ministry of Finance then included a ban on these products in amendments to the Tobacco Act. These amendments were adopted in May 2023, but were not signed by the then president, along with several other laws. Milo Djukanovic due to a dispute over the fact that the Assembly's mandate had previously expired. The law was not signed by the new president either Jakov Milatović, who took office ten days later, because the seven-day deadline within which the former president was required to sign them had expired.

In July 2024, the deputies Miloš Pižurica i Darko Dragović They proposed to the Parliament new amendments to the Tobacco Law that, among other things, prohibit the placing on the market of nicotine products for oral use, chewing and snorting. In August of the same year, the Government gave a positive opinion on their proposed amendments to the law, but the Parliament has not yet discussed them.

Tobacco companies are seeking the introduction of excise duties

In February this year, the Ministry of Finance announced that it was preparing amendments to the Law on Excise Duties and invited the interested public to participate in the drafting process and submit their suggestions, proposals and comments in order to improve the quality of the text of the future law.

In the report on this consultative procedure, the Ministry announced that they had received one proposal from representatives of the tobacco industry - "Philip Morris Montenegro" and "British American Tobacco", who proposed that nicotine sachets for oral use be introduced into excise products.

"It is proposed to introduce a new category of excise products - nicotine sachets for oral use, tariff code CT 2404 91 90 00, in order to create the possibility of monitoring and analyzing the turnover of this type of nicotine products on the Montenegrin market. It is proposed that the basis for calculation be a kilogram of net mass contained in nicotine sachets, in the amount of 25 euros per kilogram," stated the Ministry's report on the proposals received at that consultative call for the preparation of a draft of the new law.

Ministry: Risks outweigh benefits

The Ministry of Finance states in its explanation that it rejects the tobacco companies' proposal.

"Regarding the proposed solution relating to the introduction of nicotine pouches into the existing excise system, we point out that our commitment in this area is aimed at completely banning the production, processing and trade of tobacco and tobacco products containing nicotine for oral use, chewing and snorting, which is proposed in the Law on Amendments to the Tobacco Law, which is in the parliamentary procedure. The aforementioned proposal is rejected, bearing in mind that, by analyzing the budgetary effects of the introduction of these products, we have determined their negligible share in relation to the health risks and the risk of causing addiction that these products may have, especially among the young population," the Ministry's explanation stated.

The Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization office in Montenegro and the Institute of Public Health in May last year, at the celebration of the "World No Tobacco Day", announced data that 11 percent of fifteen-year-olds and 18 percent of sixteen-year-olds use tobacco and nicotine products. It was stated that special attention must be paid to children and young people, who experiment with tobacco and can very quickly develop addiction, and that products such as electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches and/or snus are becoming increasingly popular among schoolchildren.

Allowed in Serbia with high excise taxes, banned in Croatia

In Serbia, nicotine products - sachets have been introduced into excise products since the beginning of 2024 and are defined as "disposable products containing nicotine or nicotine compounds and other ingredients, packaged in sachets or porous bags and intended exclusively for oral use".

The excise tax amounts to 5.050 dinars per kilogram of net weight of nicotine sachets, which in euros would amount to 43 euros. That is, 18 euros more than the amount proposed to the Ministry for Montenegro by representatives of international tobacco corporations.

In Croatia, the 2024 amendment to the Law on Restricting the Use of Tobacco and Related Products prohibited the trade and use of tobacco products for oral use.

Ombudsman calls for ban by 2023, 20 times more nicotine than in cigarettes

The Montenegrin Ombudsman recommended in 2023 that Montenegro legally restrict the use of snus because it is also legally sold to children. However, nothing happened.

Snus is a tobacco product and contains up to 8.000 chemical substances, 10 percent of which are carcinogenic, which, as stated in the statements of the Ministry of Health and the Institute of Public Health, penetrate into the blood and significantly impair the immunity of a young person and increase the risk of malignant and other diseases.

The Ministry and the Institute then announced in January 2023 that they would initiate amendments to the Law on Restrictions on the Use of Tobacco Products, in order to prohibit the sale of both tobacco for oral use and the sale of tobacco products via the internet. Nothing has happened on this issue since then.

The Croatian Institute of Public Health published a study on nicotine pouches (snus) at the end of 2023, recommending that it is extremely harmful, and that it contains a significantly higher percentage of nicotine than traditional cigarettes.

Nicotine pouches, or snus, are used as a substitute for conventional tobacco products. They contain dehydrated nicotine in the form of a white powder, plant fibers, flavors, and sweeteners, and are designed to be placed between the lips and gums and do not require spitting. The nicotine in snus is absorbed into the bloodstream through the mucous membranes in the mouth.

The Croatian Institute then announced that the nicotine content in cigarettes is limited to one milligram per cigarette, meaning that there are 20 milligrams of this toxic substance in a pack.

"On the other hand, just one sachet of snus contains 20 milligrams of nicotine, and the entire pack contains approximately 18, which amounts to 360 milligrams of nicotine per pack," the study stated.

They state that cigarettes contain natural nicotine from tobacco, while snus contains synthetic nicotine, the absorption of which is much different.

"Although snus contains fewer other harmful chemicals than tobacco, it still contains nitrosamines linked to various types of cancer and the risk of other side effects," the institution said.