Toronto, ON: The Consumer Choice Center (CCC) is calling on the Carney government to listen to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and return nicotine pouches to retail outlets like gas stations and convenience stores by repealing a 2024 federal ministerial order restricting their sale to pharmacies.
In a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Smith argues that it simply doesn’t make sense for the federal government to block retailers from selling nicotine pouches but allow them to sell other nicotine products, including cigarettes.
As Smith argues in her letter, “When a regulated alternative is more difficult to access than cigarettes, it sends the wrong signal and complicates efforts by adults working to lessen their dependence.”
Furthermore, Smith rightly notes that the federal government’s restrictions have simply led to the growth of an “illicit and unregulated market.”
Jay Goldberg, the CCC’s Canadian Affairs Manager, commented on Smith’s letter.
“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is dead-on when she says that the federal government’s ministerial order restricting the sale of nicotine pouches to pharmacies must be repealed. This smoking alternative is proven to be 99 per cent less harmful than cigarettes yet is now more difficult for consumers to access. The Carney government should act on Smith’s recommendations and return nicotine pouches to gas stations and convenience stores, where they can be age verified in a responsible manner, just like other nicotine products. Smith is also right that illicit sales are becoming a problem, and the federal government’s restrictions are the clear cause,”said Goldberg.
Federal opposition MPs have been similarly calling on the Carney government to revisit the 2024 ministerial order and restore the sale of nicotine pouches to gas stations and convenience stores.
“Carney hasn’t been afraid to walk away from several Trudeau-era policies that defied common sense, and this is yet another example of a policy that ought to be abandoned. Carney should adopt this commonsense position and scrap the Trudeau government’s misguided ministerial order,” Goldberg added.
