Canada’s federal government will impose new restrictions beginning Aug. 28 on nicotine pouches, making it illegal to sell them anywhere but from behind a pharmacy counter.
The pouches, which carry the brand name Zonnic, will be completely banned from convenience store and gas station shelves. Berry Frost and Tropic Breeze flavors will be recalled, and only menthol—and mint-flavored pouches will be allowed in pharmacies.
“All the stuff that’s clearly designed to target youth — it’s over,” Health Minister Mark Holland told CBC News.
Ottawa has been promising to crack down on sales of nicotine pouches for nearly 10 months. National health groups have warned about the risk of teenagers using them and becoming addicted to nicotine.
“It has been so deeply disturbing to see so many young people becoming addicted to these nicotine pouches who’ve never had any interaction with cigarettes,” Holland said.
Holland has accused Imperial Tobacco, the cigarette manufacturer that makes the pouches, of using a loophole in Canadian law to get approval from Health Canada.
The federal government says it will give Imperial Tobacco six months to change its packaging and advertising. The new containers must include an addiction warning on the front label and any advertising that could appeal to youth must be changed by the end of February.
Holland said the new measures may come too late for some.
“I’m very concerned that there are kids who are already addicted. I am very concerned that tobacco companies have already achieved their goal,” he said. “It repulses me.”
Eric Gagnon, vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs at Imperial Tobacco Canada, believes Holland has a “personal vendetta” against the company, which went through a two-year approval process to legally sell nicotine pouches.
“Apparently, because we’re a tobacco company, we’re treated differently than anybody else,” he told CBC News. “The biggest losers right now are the adult smokers that have been using Zonnic.”