Alan Gor

Articles

The Predictable Consequence of Prohibition: Australia Created the Market It Now Warns You About

Another uncomfortable reality sits beneath this latest warning, and it is one that policymakers rarely acknowledge.

5 hrs ago • Alan Gor

The Cost of Silence: Why X Must Restore Trust in Its Users

I never expected to be writing for this Substack, but today I am doing so as a guest writer because this issue has become deeply personal.

Jun 21 • Alan Gor

The Test Has Been Run. It’s Time to Mark the Results.

The Australian Labor Party will gather for its National Conference from 23–25 July.

Jun 21 • Alan Gor

Journal Entry - When Protecting Yourself Feels Like Letting Others Down

Sometimes the hardest decisions aren’t the ones where you’ve done something wrong.

Jun 20 • Alan Gor

Journal Entry - What Is Within My Control Today?

One of the strange things about writing about tobacco harm reduction is that it has taught me as much about myself as it has about public policy.

Jun 18 • Alan Gor

The International Covenant Betrayal: How Australia’s Vaping Ban Undermines the Right to Health

Human rights are often spoken of in lofty and inspiring terms.

Jun 17 • Alan Gor

The Tobacco Wars Are What Policy Failure Looks Like

The most important thing about the tobacco wars is not the tobacco itself.

Jun 15 • Alan Gor

The Generation Gap in Public Health: Why a Smoke-Free Generation Is Only Half the Battle

One of the most refreshing aspects of a recent article published in The Lancet by Ruth Bonita and Robert Beaglehole is its clarity.

Jun 13 • Alan Gor

The Perfection Protection Racket: How Public Health Strategy Keeps Smokers Hooked

Every few months, a new study emerges that follows a remarkably predictable script.

Jun 13 • Alan Gor

The Crime Syndicate AGM: A Record Year for Growth

Transcript of the Annual General Meeting of the Southern Hemisphere Organised Commerce Association (SHOCA)

Jun 12 • Alan Gor

Palau Wants the United Nations to Review Nicotine. But Who Will Review the Evidence?

A recent article published by the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP) celebrated a call from the Pacific nation of Palau for the…

Jun 10 • Alan Gor

What the Vaping Debate Taught Me About Power, Trust, and Truth

When I first started writing about vaping policy, I believed I was entering a debate about public health.

Jun 8 • Alan Gor

Journal Entry - A Weekend to Breathe

This weekend, I gave myself something I haven’t allowed enough of lately: a break.

Jun 7 • Alan Gor

When Reality Becomes Inconvenient: Croakey's Refusal to Learn from Australia's Tobacco Disaster

The latest Croakey article urging governments to intensify their crackdown on illicit tobacco is remarkable not because it presents any genuinely new…

Jun 7 • Alan Gor

The Youth Vaping Narrative Strikes Again: A Perspective Piece Built on Assumptions Rather Than Evidence

The latest Perspective article published in PLOS Medicine by Raglan Maddox, Becky Freeman, Charlotta Pisinger and Emily Banks presents itself as a…

Jun 5 • Alan Gor

Vaping Theology #26: When Ideology Collides With Reality

Simon Chapman’s latest blog is presented as a triumphant rebuttal of tobacco harm reduction advocates, but it reveals a deeper problem that has become…

Jun 5 • Alan Gor

The “Every Vape” Campaign Has a Blind Spot It Cannot Acknowledge

Australia’s public health establishment has become remarkably skilled at producing stakeholder toolkits.

Jun 5 • Alan Gor

The Consumer Revolt Against Expertise

One of the most important developments in the vaping debate receives surprisingly little attention.

Jun 4 • Alan Gor

The Great Tobacco Control Failure: ABS Data Exposes Australia’s Illicit Nicotine Boom

For years, Australians have been told that the country’s tobacco control policies represent a global public health success story.

Jun 3 • Alan Gor

The Aftermath of World Vape Day vs World No Tobacco Day: A Campaign Detached From Reality

The days following World Vape Day and World No Tobacco Day revealed a growing divide in global public health, one that is becoming increasingly…

Jun 1 • Alan Gor

May 2026

The Treaty That Lost Its Way: Why the FCTC Needs Reform, Not Reverence

When the World Health Organisation adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, it was hailed as a landmark moment in public health.

May 29 • Alan Gor

Journal Entry - The Fear of Being Silenced

Today I felt something I never expected to feel over a social media account: genuine fear and despair.

May 28 • Alan Gor

The Latest Fear Campaign: Why Julian Hill’s “Vaping is Linked to Cancer” Claim Misleads Australians

Another day, another alarmist claim from Julian Hill on X.

May 26 • Alan Gor

Australia and Brazil: Nicotine’s Accidental Laboratories

Brazil banned vapes. Australia turned them into pharmacy products. Both reveal what happens when the law is narrower than demand.

May 26 • Alan Gor and Claudio Teixeira