Consumer Expertise: What Nicotine Users Know That Researchers Don't
Nicotine users have expertise about their own experience—what products satisfy, what triggers craving, what support helps. This expertise is systematically devalued by the research and policy establishment. It shouldn't be.
The smoker who has tried to quit ten times knows more about the barriers to cessation than any researcher who has never smoked. The vaper who has stayed off cigarettes for five years knows more about what makes vaping satisfying than any product designer. **Consumer expertise—knowledge gained through lived experience—is systematically devalued by the research and policy establishment. It's dismissed as 'anecdotal,' while statistical evidence is treated as authoritative. The dismissal is epistemically unjustified—and practically harmful, because it excludes the knowledge that could make policy more effective.**
