A recent report highlights alarming vaping trends among schoolchildren, primarily from wealthier families, driven by predatory marketing of addictive products. The Addiction Economy calls for urgent measures to phase out vapes alongside cigarettes, implementing stricter regulations and better support for kids to quit, while criticizing policymakers for their slow response.

A new initiative at Nottingham Hospitals provides tailored support to smokers, recognizing addiction as a mental health issue that requires more than just pharmaceutical solutions. Highlighting the need for personalized care, the program offers psychological support to address the root causes and triggers of addiction

On World Mental Health Day, the Addiction Economy highlights addiction as a form of misguided self-care, driven by stress and anxiety. While companies design products to offer fleeting relief, the root causes persist, making it harder to break free. Understanding why you turn to addictive behaviors is key to finding healthier ways to cope

A default "opt-in" policy for organ donation, intended to increase donations, actually led to a decrease, highlighting the importance of respect and ethical communication with families. The Addiction Economy examines how well-meaning policies can backfire when they fail to address emotional and ethical complexities.

Drawing parallels to past overhyped technologies, the Addiction Economy warns against exaggerated claims about AI solving global issues like climate change. Such "Economy of Promises" undermines trust, leading to overlooked risks and feeding into harmful disinformation.

The Addiction Economy adopts Dr. Roger Miles' term "Institutionalised Gaslighting" to describe how companies use disinformation to normalize harmful practices, making the public feel unreasonable for questioning them. The book also highlights Grant Ennis' "9 Frames of Disinformation" as a tool to recognize corporate attempts to avoid regulation.

A recent Lancet study shows 1 million UK adults, mostly young drinkers, now vape without ever smoking. The Addiction Economy calls for phasing out vaping alongside smoking to prevent it from becoming a normalized addiction, urging government action and better support for youth cessation efforts.

The Addiction Economy warns against allowing markets to dictate societal direction, urging responsible innovation in emerging technologies like AI. While AI is overhyped by monopolies, experts like Neil Lawrence stress the importance of inclusive, informed discussions about its role in public services, warning against overconfidence in its potential to solve societal issues

Concerns about the regulation of neural data, as explored by Nita Farahany and Dr. Susie A., highlight the potential for technology to undermine our freedom of thought and facilitate manipulative corporate interests, prompting a critical examination of how precautionary regulations are needed to protect citizens

Effective use of evidence and compelling graphics, as demonstrated in historical contexts like the 18th-century Gin Craze and modern issues such as tobacco and gambling, is crucial for empowering politicians to take bold actions in support of public health, illustrated further by the insightful graphic detailing the UK's energy generation sources amid the closure of the last coal-fired power station.

Addiction can be seen as a misguided form of self-care, where temporary relief from behaviors like overeating or substance use ultimately leads to greater dependence, highlighting the limitations of the disease model and pharmacological solutions like Ozempic, which fail to address the underlying issues driving these behaviors.

The Tobacco Control Research Group underscores the detrimental impact of tobacco industry interference on public health efforts, as highlighted by The Guardian’s investigation into the Economist Group's commercial ties with major tobacco companies, prompting significant backlash and withdrawals from health conferences.

Marietje Schaake's assertion that lobbying undermines democracy highlights the need for regulators to prioritize public interest over corporate self-interest, confronting entrenched ideologies that favor profit over societal well-being.

The current approach of the Labour's focus on punitive measures for benefit claimants rather than addressing systemic issues, mirrors past governmental failures and reflects a troubling trend of blaming individuals for problems stemming from poorly designed policies

Wes Streeting advocates for a thorough and inclusive public dialogue on smoking bans, emphasizing the need for deliberative processes that weigh public health against commercial interests

What lessons from cigarettes and UPF can we learn that can be applied to future technologies to stop the same issues of addiction and dependence happening again

Releasing female prisoners who are often in there for addiction related crimes may make more sense than what has happened, the relation to addiction and imprisonment forces us to think what imprisonment is for

Recently in the UK, more children have died each year than they did a few years ago. Increased poverty, more destitution and the effects of ongoing austerity are the clear culprits.

As Scotland tracks record deaths from drugs and alcohol a review into how alcohol is advertises is recommended, as one of the 5 drivers of the addiction economy this is a key step

In his commitment to fix the NHS without raising Taxes Kier Starmer must face 'nanny state' criticism for his policies aiming to reduce the burden by working 'with people' - as we propose regulating the health harming industries that cause the problems