Polish expert explains why a potential ban on nicotine patches could harm front-line soldiers

Share: Ukrainian military uses nicotine sachets for security reasons. Draft law No. 14110, which prohibits the production, trade and import of nicotine pads, was submitted to the Parliament of Ukraine for consideration. At the same time, in neighboring Poland, the attitude towards nicotine patches is softer and, in particular, recently Polish journalists studied the experience of using alternative nicotine products - in particular, nicotine patches by the Polish military.

Thus, Defence24 journalists spoke with the former head of the Military Engineering Department of the General Command of the Polish Armed Forces, retired general Bohuslaw Benbenek, who explained the advantages of nicotine pads for frontline servicemen compared to cigarettes. One lit cigarette on the front line can betray an entire unit to the enemy, the general explained, and smoking in places where explosive substances are stored can cause a great tragedy.

That is why, among Polish soldiers and officers, nicotine products that emit neither light nor odor have been used more often recently. "This is not about nicotine propaganda, but about choosing the lesser evil in military realities. Safety is a priority when it comes to even nicotine. From the commander's point of view, I know one thing: if a soldier needs nicotine, it's better to have it like a pad than to risk his life lighting a cigarette under enemy fire," said Benbenek.

As the journalists note, the Ukrainian military uses nicotine sachets for safety reasons. As Polish journalists write, cigarettes were an invariable attribute of soldiers' life from the First World War, when tobacco was part of the ration, to the conflicts of the Cold War, because every second American soldier smoked in Vietnam. However, with the advent of modern technologies such as night vision and thermal imaging, the military has begun to look for more discreet alternatives to smoking.