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    “I Was Just Ignorant”—World-Renowned Vaping Researcher on His Dramatic Conversion

    Dr. Riccardo Polosa is professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Catania, Italy, and a world-renowned researcher into tobacco harm reduction.

    Polosa and his team have conducted numerous important clinical trials on the safety and efficacy of e-cigarettes, in addition to studies on schizophrenia, smoking and the transition from smoking to e-cigarettes. He is the founder and director of the recently created Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction, a scientific advisor for the Italian Anti-Smoking League, and a special scientific advisor for the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organizations (INNCO).

    In the original Filter video above, he tells me about a chance meeting that set him on his current path, his initial skepticism about e-cigarettes, and the peculiar American sensitivity to nicotine use.

     

    • Helen is Filter‘s senior editor and a multimedia journalist. She is on the methadone, vaping and nicotine train. Helen is also a filmmaker. Her two documentaries about methadone are Liquid Handcuffs and Swallow THIS. As an LCSW, she has worked with people who use drugs for over two decades. Helen is an adjunct assistant professor and teaches a course about the War on Drugs at NYU. She lives in Harlem.

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