Welcome to our penultimate newsletter prior to the Global Forum on Nicotine 2026. In this edition, we are pleased to announce that most streamed sessions will be translated simultaneously into both Russian and Spanish, except for the two sessions detailed below.

As a reminder, GFN26 runs from Wednesday 3 to Friday 5 June 2026, and will be taking place at The Warsaw Presidential Hotel, al. Jerozolimskie 65/79, 00-697 Warszawa, Poland.

You can view the streamed online sessions for free – where you will be able to join in with discussions and pose questions to the panels.

Attending in person or joining in online, make sure you’ve completed your registration.

ACCESSING TRANSLATIONS AT GFN

To access the simultaneous translation service, you must bring headphones and a WiFi-enabled device. Headphones will not be supplied by the conference organisers.

Selected GFN sessions will be simultaneously translated from English (EN) into Spanish (ES) and Russian (RU). The Spanish language session will be translated into English. Look for EN+ES+RU on the programme to see which sessions will be translated.

Access simultaneous translations onsite using the QR code above. Alternatively, you can download the LiveVoice app onto your mobile phone or tablet and enter the event code: 827 876

ACCESO A LAS TRADUCCIONES EN GFN

Para acceder al servicio de traducción simultánea, debes traer auriculares y un dispositivo con conexión WiFi. Los auriculares no serán proporcionados por los organizadores de la conferencia.

Las sesiones seleccionadas del GFN serán traducidas simultáneamente del inglés (EN) al español (ES) y al ruso (RU). La session en español será traducida al inglés. Busca EN+ES+RU en el programa para ver qué sesiones serán traducidas.

Accede a las traducciones simultáneas en el lugar utilizando el código QR arriba. Alternativamente, puedes descargar la aplicación LiveVoice en tu teléfono móvil o tableta e ingresar el código del evento: 827 876

ДОСТУП К ПЕРЕВОДАМ НА GFN

Чтобы воспользоваться услугой одновременного перевода, необходимо иметь наушники и устройство с поддержкой WiFi. Организаторы конференции не будут предоставлять наушники.

Выбранные сессии GFN будут одновременно переведены с английского (EN) на испанский (ES) и русский (RU). Сессия на испанском языке будет переводиться на английский. Ищите EN+ES+RU в программе, чтобы узнать, какие сессии будут переведены.

Для доступа к одновременным переводам на месте используйте указанный выше QR-код. Кроме того, вы можете скачать приложение LiveVoice на свой мобильный телефон или планшет и ввести код мероприятия: 827 876

Session: 'Drugs and tobacco harm reduction' (KAC)

'Drugs and THR: shared challenges, shared solutions' takes place on Friday from 11:30 to 13:00 (Europe/Warsaw). It will be conducted in both Russian and English, with simultaneous translation between the two languages.

Harm reduction approaches are now an established and fundamental part of the response to drug use. While tobacco harm reduction has an expanding evidence base it is often viewed in narrow terms, as if people who smoke exist in a discrete silo. This has meant the potential of THR to help communities with high smoking prevalence, such as people who use drugs, remains underexplored – despite the evident harms they experience and their impact on health outcomes.

The session brings a drug harm reduction perspective to THR, drawing on frontline experience across a range of environments and sectors, seeking to highlight what works in terms of harm reduction for individuals and communities, plus opportunities for further development.

Our host, Tatsiana Pikirenia, will be joined by David MacKintosh, Marianna Masia Iwulska, Magdalena Bartnik, Alla Bessonova, and Gerry Stimson.

• Tatsiana Pikirenia is a public health specialist and harm reduction advocate with over a decade of fulfilling experience. She currently serves as Scoping, Engagement and Resource Development Lead at Knowledge-Action-Change, supporting the Global Tobacco Harm Reduction Initiative.

• David MacKintosh has over 25 years’ experience in drug, alcohol and harm reduction policy. His roles have included the UK Cabinet Office’s Anti Drug Coordination Unit, leading the London Drug and Alcohol Policy Forum, advising the Greater London Authority, and six years as Head of Community Safety for the City of London.

• Marianna Masia Iwulska is a user activist and a person living with HIV. From 2006 to 2018, she served as a board member of WYZWOLENIE, an OAMT patients’ association based in Kraków, Poland. Through her work with WYZWOLENIE, she became involved in the early stages of INPUD and later EuroNPUD.

• Magdalena Bartnik is the Founder and Executive Director of PREKURSOR Foundation, a leading harm reduction organisation in Poland. With almost 20 years of experience in the drugs field, she has been a strong advocate for human rights-based drug policies and person-centred, comprehensive services for people who use drugs.

• Alla Bessonova is a veteran activist and Executive Director of the Association “Harm Reduction Network” in Kyrgyzstan. With extensive experience of Central Asia’s legal and social landscape, she has played a key role in sustaining needle exchange and opioid agonist therapy programmes across the region. She is a strong advocate for decriminalisation and human rights-based health interventions, with a focus on sustainable HIV services and integrating comprehensive harm reduction into national healthcare systems.

• Professor Gerry Stimson is a leading advocate for tobacco harm reduction. A public health social scientist, with over 50 years’ experience of research and advocacy, he was one of the founders of harm reduction in the 1990s, helping to develop and evaluate harm reduction in the UK as a response to HIV/AIDS. Gerry has advised the UK Government, WHO, UNAIDS, UNODC, the World Bank and numerous governments around the world on issues relating to drugs, HIV infection and AIDS, and alcohol. He has also published over 220 scientific publications and several books.

Session: 'The future of tobacco control in Iberoamerica: between prohibition and ideology, or public health and human rights '

‘The future of tobacco control in Iberoamérica: between prohibition and ideology, or public health and human rights’ takes place on Thursday from 14:00 - 15:30 (Europe/Warsaw). It will be conducted in Spanish and simultaneously translated into English only.

The session will explore the future of tobacco control in Iberoamérica, highlighting the consequences of prohibitionist and ideologically driven approaches. It will examine how such policies may overlook key public health and human rights principles by limiting access to lower-risk alternatives and failing to reflect the realities of people who use nicotine. The discussion will also consider the role of tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a more pragmatic, evidence-based approach to improving health outcomes.

Our host for this session will be Alejandra Medina, who will be joined by Aldo Contro, Mariana Hoyo, Ethan Nadelmann, Fernando Briseño, and Diego Verrastro.

• Alejandra Medina is an activist, researcher and advocate for harm reduction and drug policy reform. She is Co-Director of Rizoma NGO in Colombia, working from an intersectional approach to address substance use with a focus on care, human rights, and vulnerable communities. She led the Nicotine Harm Reduction Platform (NicotinaRRD) in Latin America (2018–2025) and is a KAC Fellow (2023). Her work has contributed to the development of public policies in health, environment, nicotine and harm reduction.

• Aldo Contro is an ethnohistorian with over 15 years of experience in the study of drug policy and history. He has worked in research, education, and advocacy, contributing to national and international forums. He has published extensively on psychoactive substances, prohibitionist policies, and harm reduction. He currently leads CE-LIBRE, an organisation promoting evidence-based and human rights-oriented drug policy reform.

• Mariana Hoyo is a medical doctor and consultant in integrative medicine, with experience in health systems management. Her work focuses on cannabinoid science, harm reduction, lifestyle medicine and emerging therapeutic models. She collaborates with healthcare professionals and organisations to develop evidence-based, patient-centred care models that prioritise safety, autonomy and quality of life.

• Ethan Nadelmann taught politics and public affairs at Princeton University and founded and directed first The Lindesmith Center (1994-2000) and then the Drug Policy Alliance (2000-2017), the world’s leading drug policy reform organization. He also co-founded the Open Society Institute’s International Harm Reduction Development program. He has spoken publicly in over forty states and forty countries. His TED Talk on ending the drug war has over two million views. He has hosted the podcast, PSYCHOACTIVE. Ethan and his colleagues were at the forefront of dozens of successful campaigns to legalize marijuana, reduce the incarceration of drug law offenders, treat drug use and addiction as health, not criminal, issues, and otherwise promote alternatives to the war on drugs.

• Fernando Briseño is an economist with extensive experience in public policy, economic analysis and strategy. He currently teaches undergraduate courses in data analysis, statistics and algorithmic thinking at Universidad de la Libertad. He has led research projects on harm reduction and the political economy of tobacco use in Mexico.

• Diego Verrastro is a surgeon and spokesperson for RELDAT (Red Latinoamericana Por La Reducción De Daños Asociados Al Tabaquismo), helping to lead THR efforts across Latin America. As a former smoker, Diego says he knows firsthand how vaping can save lives.

Let’s meet our media partner - Vaping Today

We are delighted to welcome VapingToday back as a media partner for GFN26.

A Spanish-language online newspaper, it specialises in the promotion of Tobacco Harm Reduction, providing comprehensive coverage of political, scientific, sociocultural, and community issues, along with expert perspectives from a global viewpoint. VapingToday’s goal is to be a reliable and informative resource for its readership.

Established in 2020 through a strategic collaboration between C3PRESS, a Brazilian news agency, and Kramber Designs, a Colombian design studio, the newspaper delivers accurate, evidenced-based information to transform the informational landscape of a topic that is often plagued by disinformation.

After four years of operation, VapingToday has earned a reputation as a trustworthy source of information in the community, attracting over 500 daily visitors. This growth reflects the increasing demand among Spanish-speaking populations for verified and reliable information on Tobacco Harm Reduction.

Catch up with VapingToday here: https://thevapingtoday.com/

Until our final GFN26 newsletter, remember to register and download the LiveVoice app if you’d like to listen to sessions in English, Spanish or Russian and have a great week / ¡Que tengas una excelente semana! / Хорошей недели!

The GFN Team