| | Welcome to this week’s newsletter as the clock on the wall is telling us there is just four weeks until the Global Forum on Nicotine 2026! First held in Warsaw in 2014, GFN is the only international conference to focus on the role of safer nicotine products that help people switch away from smoking. |
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Panel #2 - ‘Dealing with the health, wellbeing and ethical impacts of prohibition’ |
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Safer nicotine products are increasingly popular for assisting those quitting smoking. Evidence continues to support the game-changing effect this can have on individual and community health. |
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Some questions emerge from this: What should be the role of public health in this? Why do some public health professionals continue to ignore or dismiss the emerging evidence? Does ideology cloud judgements? Should personal choice and freedom be a priority? What legitimate role is there for regulation in this area?
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Addressing these questions, our panellists: |
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Dr. Mark Tyndall is a Canadian physician with specialty training in Internal Medicine (McMaster University), Infectious Diseases (University of Manitoba) and Public Health (Harvard University). He was formerly the Executive Director of the BC Centre for Disease Control and Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. |
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Dr. Tyndall has over three decades of community-based clinical and research experience and is internationally recognized for his contributions to HIV prevention, harm reduction, human rights, and drug policy reform. He has led programs and research studies around needle exchange, supervised injection sites, and safe supply programs to reduce the harms of drug use. |
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Mark has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications and presented a 2017 TED talk on harm reduction. His current research and advocacy efforts are focused on accelerating the global transition away from cigarettes to vaping and other safe(r) nicotine products. He authored the 2025 book, Vaping: Behind the Smoke and Fears. |
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Dr. Lynne Dawkins is a Tobacco Harm Reduction Consultant and Director of Dawkins Analytics Ltd. Through her primary role as Senior Scientific Advisor at Pinney Associates Inc. she oversees the work of a team of behavioural scientists who in turn support JUUL Labs Inc. in their regulatory and scientific endeavours. |
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Prior to her consultancy work, Dr. Dawkins spent over 30 years in academia and was a former Professor of Nicotine and Tobacco Science at London South Bank University where she led the Nicotine, Tobacco and Vaping research group. She has spent her career focusing on smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction research and has published over 80 scientific articles on the subject. |
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Jagannath (Jaggi) Sarangapani is an independent tobacco harm reduction advocate from India with more than a decade of lived experience as a consumer of safer nicotine products. After smoking nearly 40 cigarettes a day for 20 years, he quit smoking through vaping and has remained smoke-free for over 10 years. His advocacy focuses on the consumer perspective in tobacco harm reduction and the importance of ensuring that adult smokers have access to safer alternatives. |
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Outside his advocacy work, Jagannath is a second-generation industrialist with more than 35 years of experience managing his family business, a pioneer in cellular plastics and insulated panels in India. |
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He maintains an active lifestyle as a fitness enthusiast and hybrid athlete, with a particular interest in running, strength training, and HYROX competitions. Jagannath holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and is also an alumnus of Columbia Business School. |
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Dr. Joe Kosterich MBBS GAICD |
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Dr. Joe Kosterich is a speaker, author, and health industry consultant. |
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Dr. Kosterich is WA State Medical Director for IPN, Clinical editor of Medical Forum Magazine, Medical Advisor to Medicinal Cannabis company Little Green Pharma and Course Chair, and writer for Health Cert. He is often called to give opinions in medico-legal cases, has taught students at UWA and Curtin Medical schools and been involved in post graduate medical education for over 20 years. |
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A regular in the media, Joe has a podcast - “Dr Joe Unplugged”, has self-published two books and maintains a website with health information. He has extensive experience in helping businesses maintain a healthy workforce. |
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Past Chairman of Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, current Vice President of Arthritis and Osteoporosis WA, Joe previously held senior positions in the Australian Medical Association and has sat on numerous boards. |
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The GFN accommodation discount deadline is this Monday! |
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GFN26 takes place at The Warsaw Presidential Hotel (former Warsaw Marriott Hotel), al. Jerozolimskie 65/79, 00-697 Warszawa, Poland. |
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The special GFN rate applies for bookings of any duration between the dates of Monday, June 1 and Sunday, June 7, 2026. |
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Introducing our media partner – DDN |
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Drink and Drugs News is the monthly magazine for people working with – and affected by – drugs, alcohol and other addictions. The independent publication is free to subscribers and funded by advertising. In the UK it is distributed in print format to all places that work with addictions, from health and social care to criminal justice and prisons. It is also freely available online. |
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Over 20 years it has become respected as the impartial forum for information and debate, covering all treatment modalities and involving research, with a special interest in harm reduction. |
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DDN’s publishing company, CJ Wellings Ltd, is proud of its independence and strives to maintain a fair, balanced and accessible publication. |
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The DDN Conference 2026 takes place on Thursday 9 July 2026 at The National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, UK, bringing together the main providers, services and lived experience organisations from across the sector. |
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Until next week’s newsletter, fill in your registration and remember the accommodation discount expires on Monday while keeping an eye out for programme updates.
Have a rewarding week!
The GFN26 team. |
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