Federal regulations have restricted choice
Federal regulations have restricted choice by limiting nicotine pouches to pharmacies. If we want to help adult smokers quit, nicotine pouches need to be available where cigarettes are sold, like retail stores.
Put quitting tools like nicotine pouches back in convenience stores where cigarettes are sold.
ACCESS MATTERS, SO CHANGES ARE NEEDED
Nicotine pouches help smokers quit
Nicotine pouches help smokers quit
Nicotine pouches—like other smoking cessation tools such as sprays, patches, gum, and lozenges—are regulated by Health Canada to help smokers quit. But unlike these other products, pouches are currently restricted to pharmacies. This needs to change.
Removing access creates unnecessary barriers
Removing access creates unnecessary barriers
Keeping nicotine pouches out of retail stores where adult smokers purchase legal tobacco, is blocks access to authorized products that can help smokers quit.
Backed by Science
Backed by Science
A 2021 review by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment suggests that nicotine pouches pose significantly less risk to one’s health than combustible cigarettes.
The difference isn’t a small one.
On a harm scale from zero to 100—where zero represents the least harmful and 100 represents the most —cigarettes rank at 100, while nicotine pouches were rated at one. According to Health Canada’s own website: Nicotine itself has also not been found to cause cancer.
“While there are risks associated with nicotine, such as addiction and/or physical dependence, nicotine itself is not known to cause cancer. In contrast, cigarette smoke contains many disease-causing chemicals, including many that cause cancer, as well as heart and lung diseases.”
