Addiction in Every Pocket
Nicotine Pouches and the Seeds of a New Youth Epidemic
A New Epidemic
Are the world’s largest cigarette companies sowing the seeds of a new epidemic?
People around the world, including young people, are picking up a new discreet, addictive tobacco industry product: nicotine pouches. Use is rising at an alarming rate. In 2025, 34 billion pouches were sold globally. That’s a 660% increase from 2020.
Who is super-charging this growth? Some of the world’s largest transnational cigarette companies.
Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco appear to be following the same playbook they used to create the cigarette and e-cigarette epidemics to hook as many people on pouches as they can, before regulations can catch up. They’re doing it by reaching young people on social media, offering dozens of flavors and marketing pouches as both popular lifestyle products and as implied tobacco cessation aids—even though they’re not proven to help people quit smoking.
The tobacco industry touts messages about “harm reduction,” but it’s clear the focus on pouches is not about reducing cigarette or e-cigarette use. It’s about creating a huge market of people addicted to nicotine.
- The industry is using its extensive production, distribution and marketing infrastructure, first used to create the tobacco epidemic, to grow the nicotine pouch market.
- In the United States alone, sales increased by more than 1,300% between 2019 and 2025.
- This was likely due, in part, to Philip Morris International supercharging the Zyn market after purchasing Zyn manufacturer Swedish Match in 2022.
Pouch advertising promises fun, flavor and satisfying nicotine rushes—often targeted at young people. See examples of industry marketing tactics and how governments can counteract them.
Uneven Regulation
Capitalizing on a patchy regulatory landscape
Nicotine pouch laws vary greatly around the world and are still underdeveloped in many countries.
The industry is taking advantage of the regulatory “gray zones” nicotine pouches fall into in many places, charging ahead with marketing and sales as governments work to establish clear regulations.
In countries where pouches are approved cessation aids, tobacco companies can market them as nicotine replacement therapies, akin to nicotine gum or patches. In most countries, however, they frame them as everyday consumer products and market them to the masses.
This is especially concerning in low- and middle-income countries, where regulatory monitoring and enforcement capacity might be limited. British American Tobacco is reportedly pushing pouches in several such countries, including Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan and South Africa.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration officially authorized Zyn nicotine pouches to be sold legally, it did not claim they were safe or "FDA approved." But PMI is framing this as an "important step to protect the public health," and may be using the authorization to try to influence how Zyn is positioned around the world.
Recommendations
Independent research has yet to prove that nicotine pouches can help people move away from cigarettes or e-cigarettes, and pouches’ long-term health effects have not yet been determined. With so many unknowns, governments should take a cautionary approach to nicotine pouches.
To prevent a new nicotine epidemic and protect young people form the industry’s predatory tactics in places where pouches are not fully banned, governments can:
- Regulate pouch packaging
- Institute sales restrictions
- Ban all pouch advertising, promotion and sponsorship
- Implement taxes high enough to prevent youth access
- Limit nicotine concentration
- Ban flavors
- Anticipate and reject all industry interference in policymaking
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