Vapeboss – A study published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse re-emphasizes the need to embrace the use of e-cigarettes as a tobacco harm reduction tool. The study, entitled "A targeted approach to using e-cigarettes for harm reduction in adults", highlights the negative perception of e-cigarettes and the widespread inaccurate belief that e-cigarettes are equivalent to conventional cigarettes, leading to missed public health opportunities.

The study outlines ways to address misconceptions and explore the potential of e-cigarettes as a harm reduction strategy for smokers who find it difficult to quit. This argument was recently supported by an additional study titled "A systematic review of randomized controlled trials and network meta-analysis of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation" which compared the effectiveness of nicotine e-cigarettes for smoking cessation with licensed nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).

The results of this review found that smokers using nicotine e-cigarettes were more abstinent from smoking than smokers using NRT.

Researchers searched PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO for randomized controlled trials that grouped individuals to use nicotine e-cigarettes and compared them with users of licensed NRTs such as nicotine patches, nicotine gum, etc. The participants selected by the research team were healthy smokers.

While sifting through data from thousands of studies, the research team identified that smokers who switched to nicotine e-cigarettes were more likely to remain abstinent from smoking than those in the control condition (NRT users).

The study concluded, "Smokers assigned to nicotine e-cigarettes were more likely to remain abstinent from smoking than those assigned to licensed NRTs, and both were more effective than usual care or placebo conditions. Higher quality studies are needed to ascertain the effect of e-cigarettes on smoking cessation due to the risk of bias in the included studies."