Most surveys on nicotine products ask smokers.
We asked the people around them.
Today, We Are Innovation releases “The Household Case for Innovation,” a survey of over 4,000 friends, partners, and family members of former smokers across five countries: the USA, Canada, the UK, France, and Japan. Instead of asking those who quit about their experience, we asked the people who watched it happen. The result is a picture of smoking cessation that tobacco control debates rarely capture.
The findings are consistent across every country in the study.
When someone quits cigarettes with the help of Innovative Nicotine Products, the people around them notice. 62% report less exposure to secondhand smoke. More than half report improvements in shared social activities, time spent together, and the ability to exercise as a family. Those who lived with the quitter at the time report the greatest gains. Among respondents aged 18 to 34, the improvements are especially pronounced, suggesting that INPs use during cessation has a meaningful effect on younger households and families in their formative years.
The efficacy numbers are equally telling. Among those who saw a friend or relative use heated tobacco products to quit, 89% described them as helpful. For nicotine pouches, the figure is 87%. For vaping products, 84%. Between 66 and 78% of respondents said they believed their friend or relative could not have quit without INPs.
Support for adult access to INPs ranges from 85% to 86% in the USA, UK, and Japan. Where it is lower, Canada at 70% and France at 71%, the data points to the same explanation: fewer people there have witnessed INPs working firsthand. Among those who have, support rises by 10 or more percentage points in every country.
Experience changes minds. Access creates experience. That is the policy argument in two sentences.
Policymakers debate INPs as if the only people affected are the ones doing the smoking. This study puts that assumption to rest. The people closest to former smokers have seen what these products can do. It is time their perspective was part of the conversation.
