David Sweanor is an adjunct professor, Faculty of Law, and chair of the advisory board of the Centre for Health Law, Policy & Ethics at the University of Ottawa and has been actively involved in tobacco and health policy issues since the beginning of the 1980s. He has worked globally, and with numerous groups, including the International Union Against Cancer, World Health Organization, World Bank and the Pan American Health Organization and played a key role in achieving many global precedents in tobacco policy. He currently focuses much of his tobacco and nicotine related efforts on risk reduction strategies.
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The real costs of prohibition | #GFN26 Panel #3
1 Jul 2026
At the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN26), leading experts examine one of the most controversial questions in public health: What are the real costs of vaping prohibition?
This panel explores the unintended consequences of restrictive nicotine policies, including black markets, reduced access to safer nicotine alternatives, impacts on smoking cessation, and the broader implications for public health. Drawing on scientific evidence and international experience, the speakers discuss whether prohibition achieves its intended goals—or creates new problems.