I enjoyed collaborating with Clive Bates for about five years (around 1998-2003) when he headed up ASH UK. Unfortunately for public health, Clive's harm reduction campaign to rescind the EU snus ban was sabotaged by abstinence only prohibitionists and by drug industry funded groups, which frustrated Clive so much that he not only quit ASH UK, but he quit public health.
After Clive left ASH UK, Deborah Arnott (who was Clive's assistant) basically rescinded Clive's harm reduction policy at ASH UK (because she wanted to get along with the anti tobacco extremist groups in the UK and EU), while John Britton (who Clive convinced to support repealing the snus ban) quietly backtracked on the Royal College of Physician's call for repealing EU's snus ban.
Still not sure what the Royal College's position is on harm reduction, as they've been advocating Dalli's Tobacco Products Directive that would ban e-cigs, while simultaneosly claiming that e-cigarettes shouldn't be banned (but instead regulated).
