REEP's research agenda
REEP has a strong reputation in tobacco research, a growing reputation in alcohol research, and a nascent reputation in SSB research. The rapid rise in the previous decade of novel nicotine products (mainly e-cigarettes like Vuse and glo; heated tobacco products, like Philip Morris’s IQOS; and nicotine pouches like Zyn) has greatly altered the tobacco-control landscape. The arrival of Dr Estelle Dauchy has significantly increased REEP's capacity in this area. Much research has been conducted internationally on novel nicotine products. Given previous negative experiences with ’reduced harm’ products like filtered cigarettes, tobacco-control advocates look at these products with great scepticism. Claims that these products are substantially less harmful than combustible cigarettes and that these products are part of a harm-reduction strategy are rejected by some influential people in the tobacco-control community, also in South Africa. While we do not have the expertise to comment about the toxicology and relative harms of tobacco and nicotine products, we certainly have the expertise to look at these novel products from an economic perspective. In this regard, much work still needs to be done.
REEP has not yet ventured into investigating the economic aspects of products/services such as cannabis, other drugs, and online gambling and sports betting. Though we do appreciate that, like tobacco and alcohol, these may generate large negative externalities, and should thus be regulated more. In the past, REEP staff have supervised students who researched cannabis and other drugs, and this has resulted in one published paper.