Health Canada is twisting itself into pretzels to try and justify keeping nicotine pouches out of convenience stores and behind pharmacy counters.
Testifying at committee, Deputy Health Minister Greg Orencsak admitted that Health Canada originally approved nicotine pouches because they were a “less harmful” alternative to smoking cigarettes.
Under questioning, Orencsak also said that Health Canada was committed to helping smokers in Canada find ways to quit smoking.
And yet Health Canada is standing foursquare behind former health minister Mark Holland’s ministerial order to keep nicotine pouches out of convenience stores and ensure that those looking for this effective smoking cessation tool have to go to a pharmacy in order to get it.
That’s despite the fact that convenience stores can sell any other product that contains nicotine, including cigarettes, vapes and Nicorette.
A study from the German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment found that nicotine pouches are 99% less harmful than smoking cigarettes.
And yet, for a smoker looking to quit, that individual can easily access cigarettes at a local gas station but has to go all the way to a pharmacy to get pouches.
Make that make sense.
The Conservatives have been all over this issue of late in Parliament, with MPs like Burton Bailey, Jamil Jivani and Brad Vis all raising the issue, either in the House of Commons or at committee.
Conservatives seem to understand the issue
The Conservatives seem to understand that harm reduction tools need to be as available to smokers, if not more so than cigarettes in order to help smokers quit.
During last spring’s federal election campaign, the Conservatives promised to make harm reduction products “available where adults shop, just like cigarettes are.”
But the governing Liberals seem wedded to Holland’s 2024 ministerial order, even though Holland is out of government and a new prime minister has taken the helm.
The most Orencsak would commit to was to “continue to review and consider” the issue. Which is government lingo for stalling and lacking a plan.
Holland’s ministerial order also severely restricts the types of nicotine pouch flavours consumers can buy, even though there’s a much wider variety of flavours available for products like Nicorette.
If such flavours are available in gum, why not allow them to be available in pouches?
Critics of nicotine pouches, like Holland, have long argued that pouches represent a gateway to smoking. But the reality is the evidence simply isn’t there to back up those claims. In fact, the opposite is true.
The German Institute for Risk Assessment found that nicotine pouches have a very limited appeal to those who have never consumed tobacco products before — somewhere between 11% and 12%.
On the other hand, among tobacco users, interest in nicotine pouches was found to increase to 75%.
Quitting never easy
None of this should be a surprise. Smokers and tobacco chewers often spend years, if not decades, trying to find a way to quit. If pouches are a tool that can help, of course interest would be high.
The black market is also an important issue here. Contraband tobacco is a massive issue in Canada. Adopting policies like severely restricting flavours and forcing nicotine pouches out of convenience stores is a recipe for the black market to run wild.
The black market doesn’t allow for any regulation. On the other hand, bringing smoking cessation tools like nicotine pouches into the mainstream would allow for governments to enact sensible regulations and limit the reach of the black market.
Health Canada’s approach to nicotine pouches simply doesn’t make sense. Smoking cessation tools should be as easy to access, if not easier, than tobacco products. The fact that the opposite is currently the case in Canada demonstrates how backwards the thinking is right now at Health Canada.
It’s time for Health Minister Marjorie Michel to reverse her predecessor’s damaging decision and treat nicotine pouches like genuine smoking cessation tools.
Originally published here