Vaping and the peak of the Snowdon Curve

We have pointed out before that there is that corollary to the Laffer Curve, the Snowdon Curve. It is possible for regulation to be so strict that it makes the problem worse, not better. It’s therefore necessary to make sure that the regulation of even things that we all agree need to be regulated is at that sweet spot, the Goldilocks point.

Our original example of the Snowdon Curve was about vaping:

Millions of illegal and potentially harmful vapes have been seized by trading standards in the last three years, data shows, with experts warning this is the “tip of the iceberg” and a “tsunami” of products is flooding into the UK.

Freedom of information requests to 125 local authorities revealed that more than two and a half million illicit e-cigarettes were collected since the beginning of 2020.

If people think it’s worth smuggling vapes in then clearly we are regulating enough that people think it worth smuggling. So, what are we regulating?

The e-cigarettes are not-compliant with UK legal regulations and could have higher nicotine concentration levels, contain banned ingredients or have oversized tanks for nicotine liquid. Previous analysis found illicit vapes to contain high levels of lead, nickel and chromium.

Umm, why don’t we not regulate tank size, nicotine concentration? So that the only incentive to smuggle is to be able to claim a higher lead, nickel or chromium level? Which, and call us picky here if you like, we tend to think isn’t one of those things that would be a great selling point.

That is, if we’re getting smuggling in volume then we’re over that peak of the Snowdon Curve. Reducing regulation would thus make us safer - and since being safer is rather the point of the regulation then why don’t we do that?