Online Bans Will Backfire: Smokers Need More Access to Alternative Products, Not Less, Haypp Group Expert Warns

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American smokers who are seeking an alternative to cigarettes need more choices, more access and a better ecosystem of support. That’s the message from Dr. Marina Murphy, Senior Director of Scientific Affairs at Haypp Group, who argues that the U.S. is falling behind on smoke-free progress because of restrictive policies and sluggish regulation.

In her editorial Why We Need Greater, Not Less, Access to Reduced-Risk Nicotine Products, Dr. Murphy warns that proposals by academics to ban online sales of nicotine products risk doing more harm than good. “You can’t just ignore the realities of how adults access these products in the real world,” she noted.

With just 13% of nicotine products in the U.S. currently authorized, as referenced by a CDC Foundation report in 2024, the market is already limited. Imposing further barriers would only compound the problem — further limiting choice, cementing the illicit market, and ultimately pushing smokers back toward combustible cigarettes. Restrictions would also disproportionately affect vulnerable groups and those in rural areas, for whom online access may be the only practical option.

“You don’t make progress by locking the shop door — especially when most of the shelves are already empty,” according to Dr. Murphy. “If smokers can’t find reduced-risk products easily, they’ll just keep buying cigarettes.”

Proposals to ban online sales of nicotine products are often justified as measures to prevent youth access. But these products are often already age-gated by law, and the real issue lies in the failure to consistently enforce existing rules. This can be seen as a double standard, as many of the same states considering bans on smoke-free nicotine alternatives have no issue with other age-restricted goods, like alcohol, being purchased online and delivered.

Blocking online sales doesn’t solve that problem — it simply locks out adults, including those in rural or underserved areas, who rely on online access. The smarter solution is to use today’s technology to strengthen age verification and compliance, protecting youth without shutting adults out of the safer alternatives that they need.

Dr. Murphy argues that the U.S. should take note: “Innovation, paired with smart regulation, offers the most realistic pathway to achieving smoke-free goals. Restricting adults’ access to adult products doesn’t protect public health and doesn’t protect youth — it protects cigarettes.”

Haypp Group, parent company of Northerner.com and Nicokick.com, is pioneering tobacco harm reduction by making reduced-risk alternatives more accessible to adult consumers.

About Haypp Group

Haypp Group is the global leader in online sales of nicotine pouches and snus, with a mission to lead the transformation of tobacco harm reduction. Operating multiple leading e-commerce platforms, Haypp reaches hundreds of thousands of customers annually across the U.S., Europe, and beyond.