Belgium’s Deputy PM wants to legalise nicotine pouches

In Belgium, you can use nicotine pouches. You just can’t buy them.

That’s the law. Selling pouches is banned. Using them isn’t. Now Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval (MR) wants to change that. During the federal budget talks, he argued for legalising the sale of pouches and other smoke-free products.

So what does the ban actually do?

It doesn’t stop anyone using pouches. It just changes where they get them. On trips abroad. Online, from other countries. Or from sellers who don’t check age, don’t follow quality rules and don’t pay tax. The black market, you know, what criminals do.

Who does that protect? Not adults. Not underage people. Not the State, which collects nothing and controls nothing.

And it’s not just Belgium. A new TobaccoIntelligence report found that strict bans are failing to get rid of demand, and are pushing sales towards illicit markets.

What would legal sales look like?

An 18+ age limit. Quality standards. Clear labels with the nicotine content. Products that are taxed and traceable. Flavors and 20mg per pouch maximum.

That’s not a free-for-all. It’s what the UK started doing today: from 29 October, selling pouches to anyone under 18 is an offence, and adults can still buy them. Paraguay brought in similar rules this month.

And Sweden?

Sweden lets adults choose smoke-free alternatives. Just 3.7% of Swedes smoked daily in 2025, the lowest rate in the EU.

Here’s the thing

Legal to use, illegal to buy. It doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t protect anyone.

The Deputy Prime Minister has put the question on the table. Belgium should answer it: legalise sales, set an age limit, and regulate properly.