Carl Phillips: wise words worth reading

Thoughtful article by Carl Phillips who is scientific director of CASAA (Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association).

Carl spotted the little spat I had with a handful of vapers on Twitter and wrote:

The interests of smokers and smoke-free alternative users are about 95% aligned. It is about respect. It is about not using the power of the state to impose moral codes on people. It is about not criminalizing personal behavior, even if it is personally harmful. In other words, it is about truly believing in the philosophy of harm reduction, and not merely trying to support one’s personal interests, and others be damned.

And if not that, then it is just about understanding the reality of one’s self-interest, because a large portion of the restrictions on smoking is going to be applied to e-cigarettes for no reason other than the fact that they exist for smoking ...

Responding to my gripe that more vapers could be vocal on tobacco-related issues (just as Forest is vocal on proposed e-cig regulations), Carl says:

Anyone who is serious about protecting the rights of low-risk product users should pay some attention to Forest’s strategy of pushing back against existing restrictions as a way to keep it from being even easier to implement new ones. Give them an inch and they will take a mile; let them have the miles they have already claimed without continuing to fight, and they will just grab the next mile. The same applies across product categories. Accept their brutal treatment of smokers, and they will pour vapers right down that slope with them.

Full article: United we stand, because most restrictions on cigarettes will eventually apply to e-cigarettes

I met Carl at the Global Tobacco Network Forum in Cape Town last year. He struck me as someone Forest could do business with, as Margaret Thatcher might have said.

I particularly liked the fact that you could have a conversation with him and he didn't take a minor difference of opinion as a personal insult and become all defensive.

He was receptive to other people's views, even if he disagreed with them. (It was difficult to tell because he was unerringly polite.)

Like me though he drew a line and didn't take kindly to being lectured or browbeaten by people who, somewhat arrogantly, thought they knew better and weren't prepared to listen.

I wish more people were like Carl Phillips.