Tobacco's Future May Be In Cannabis

Tobacco, an extremely harmful plant when smoked in any form, may be evolving into a much less harmful past time. And the driver? Cannibis.

Phillip Morris International's CEO made the following statement recently...  the UK government should treat cigarettes like petrol cars and ban them in 10 year. The reason?  As British American Tobacco (BAT) executive Kingsley Wheaton explains...  "I think [CBD vaping] is part of the future, but the present challenge is reduced harm in tobacco and nicotine alternatives, encouraging people to switch." 

So there it is.  As tobacco use declines and tobacco companies work to re-envision their business  the healthful benefits of cannabis will proliferate further in society  and folks up and down the societal sprectrum will become healthier, happier, and more contented with life and its possibilities!

Without further ado on to the article...

Forbes - When Philip Morris International (PMI) CEO Jacek Olczak told The Mail on Sunday that the UK government should treat cigarettes like petrol cars and ban them in 10 years, many wondered why the world’s biggest tobacco company would self-sabotage itself with such a draconian statement.

However, a few days later, the British American Tobacco (BAT) executive Kingsley Wheaton told BBC Radio 4's Today program that cannabis and its derivates are part of the company’s future. "I think [CBD vaping] is part of the future, but the present challenge is reduced harm in tobacco and nicotine alternatives, encouraging people to switch," he said.

Both statements from the atop world’s biggest tobacco companies reveal an ongoing business model shift of Big Tobacco. Also, they reveal a reaction to consumer trends.

By taking into consideration the health impact of their products, tobacco companies are trying to show their efforts to get away from traditional tobacco cigarettes. Vapour and heated tobacco products have become a trend in recent years. The use of e-cigarettes among high school students increased from 11.7% to 27.5% between 2017 and 2019. Such increase is driving overall tobacco use among high school students to 31.2%, according to a report by Truth Initiative, a nonprofit tobacco control organization.

Tobacco companies are increasingly moving into the so-called cessation products. In this space, e-cigarettes, vape products, and heated tobacco technologies work as switching or quitting tools to end the era of traditional cigarettes.

But the business model shift of Big Tobacco is not only limited to provide new technologies. Companies have started to see in the cannabis industry a picklock to get out from dependence on tobacco sales. 

The interest of tobacco companies in the cannabis industry grew up along with the increasing number of US states that legalized cannabis.

In 2016, PMI invested $20 million in the Israeli pharma-tech company Syqe Medical, which developed a medical cannabis inhaler. 

In 2018, British multinational tobacco company Imperial Brands invested in Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies (OCT), a biopharmaceutical company focused on researching, developing, and licensing cannabinoid-based compounds and therapies. Along with Imperial Brands, Casa Verde Capital (CVC), the investment fund co-founded by the American rapper and cannabis entrepreneur Snoop Dogg, also invested in this pharmaceutical company.

Altria Group, another giant tobacco company, agreed to buy a 45% stake in the Canadian cannabinoid company Cronos Group for about $1.8 billion in 2018. 

In 2019, Imperial Brands announced an investment of $123 million in Auxly Cannabis Group, a Canada-based company focused on developing, manufacturing, and distributing cannabis products for wellness and recreational consumers. 

In 2021, BAT launched its first CBD vaping product, VUSE CBD Zone. In the same year, BAT’s corporate venturing unit Btomorrow Ventures (BTV), invested $25 million) investment in Canada’s Trait Biosciences, a cannabinoid research company focused on CBD-based beverages.

As the cannabis industry is moving further into the mainstream as more states legalize it for medical and recreational uses, tobacco companies are trying to diversify their products. This diversification is not only by investing in new smoking tools likely less harmful than traditional cigarettes, such as Juul (Altria) and IQOS (PMI) but also by providing new perspectives to their consumers, such as cannabis products.

Yes, things are looking up. So, here's to a less judgemental society that is both happier and healthier.

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