The results of Canada’s first legislative review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA) has been submitted to its Parliament. The review focuses primarily on the vaping-related provisions of the TVPA, which includes an obligation for a legislative review three years after coming into force, followed by subsequent reviews every two years, according to a government press release.
Brought forth by the Honorable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, the review is informed by public consultations and available evidence, which included peer-reviewed scientific journal publications, population-level surveys, and public opinion research.
“Vaping products offer the 3.8 million Canadians who smoke a less harmful source of nicotine than tobacco products, and do help people to stop smoking. These products, however, are not without risk — particularly to youth and people who do not smoke cigarettes,” Bennett said. “This first legislative review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act is a valuable opportunity to take stock of the progress we’ve made to address youth vaping – but there is more to do. Our government will continue to work to put the right safeguards in place to protect young people from the harms of vaping and nicotine addiction.”
The review’s findings suggest that the TVPA is making progress towards meeting the objectives it set out in relation to vaping. Notably, youth vaping rates, which were rising at a rapid pace, have leveled off over the past two years yet remain relatively high with more work to be done to protect youth.
The TVPA was implemented in 2018 to respond to the increasing availability of vaping products in Canada and to help ensure that Canadians would be informed about and protected from the health hazards associated with vaping. It regulates the manufacture, sale, labelling and promotion of vaping products sold in Canada.
The TVPA includes a requirement for a legislative review three years after coming-into-force, and every two years thereafter. Periodic reviews provide a means to examine and respond to tobacco and/or vaping related issues that may emerge over time.
The review was informed by a public consultation that ran from March 16, 2022 to April 27, 2022. Canadians were encouraged to provide feedback on a TVPA Legislative Review Discussion Paper. Health Canada received 3,092 submissions as part of the public consultation.
Information to help Canadians to quit smoking is available at Canada.ca/quitsmoking.
Health Canada provided financial support to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to develop Lower-Risk Nicotine Use Guidelines. The Guidelines recommend that people who smoke cigarettes should try to quit using approved smoking cessation treatments first. If they are unable or unwilling to quit, vaping or e-cigarettes can be considered.
The review also identified areas for potential action, including examining access to vaping products by youth, communicating the potential benefits of vaping as a less harmful source of nicotine for people who smoke.
The report suggest smokers completely switch to vaping and addresses the health hazards, strengthening compliance and enforcement, and the scientific and product uncertainty in order to better understand the vaping product market and the health impacts of vaping.
The government of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador has reversed its late-2019 ban on sales of cannabis vape products.
The decision to carry vape products followed a review of Newfoundland’s cannabis industry by the provincial government and the Newfoundland Labrador Liquor Corp. (NLC), the province’s adult-use cannabis regulator and wholesaler, according to its chief merchandising officer, Peter Murphy, reports MJ Biz Daily.
The change opens a new, albeit limited, market for vapes: Newfoundland was the second-smallest cannabis market among Canada’s 10 provinces in September, with regulated recreational marijuana sales worth 5.7 million Canadian dollars ($4.2 million), or about 1.5 percent of Canadian cannabis sales.
Quebec’s government-owned recreational cannabis monopoly, Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC), still does not sell vapes.
The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court decision not to suspend the province’s ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.
Last September, the province banned all e-cigarette flavors except for tobacco, but a vape store and five individuals wanted sales to resume pending a full court challenge of the legislation, according to CBC.
They argued that vape stores were suffering financially because of the law, and that without flavored e-cigarette options, people trying to quit smoking would go back to smoking tobacco, which poses a greater health risk.
The ruling from the Court of Queen’s Bench in March said the government’s intent with the legislation was to protect the health of residents, particularly young people.
In his one-line decision Thursday, Court of Appeal Justice Brad Green said the motion for leave to appeal is dismissed.
No date has been set for the full constitutional challenge.
Turning Point Brands is embracing next-generation tobacco and alternative products by taking calculated risks.
By Timothy S. Donahue
It’s hard to argue the success of Turning Point Brands (TPB). In business since 1988, during the past decade, the company has been turning the typical tobacco business model on its head. It is involved in almost all aspects of the industry, generating nearly $450 million in sales every year. From its iconic brands like Zig-Zag to its more recent investments in the growing legal cannabis industry, TPB is turning heads.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, TPB’s business includes three operating segments. Its main line of revenue comes from its “smoking” segment, which includes the rights to the Zig-Zag brand in the U.S. and Canada, according to Scott R. Grossman, TPB’s vice president of corporate development. Zig-Zag is one of the oldest, most recognized “other tobacco products” (OTP) and cannabis accessory brands. “Founded over 150 years ago, Zig-Zag holds the No. 1 share of both rolling papers and wraps in North America, and its products can be found in more than 200,000 retail outlets,” says Grossman. “Given that Zig-Zag generates roughly 40 percent of TPB’s revenue and a majority of our operating income, the brand and its growth initiatives are a major focus for us.”
TPB’s second segment is “smokeless,” which is predominantly the Stoker’s brand, a leading player in the moist snuff tobacco and chewing tobacco markets. The company also owns the Beech-Nut brand and a diverse collection of other chewing tobacco products. Another compelling segment of the TPB operation is its new generation of products (NewGen), which covers the company’s electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) and cannabis brands.
NewGen includes an assortment of brands serving multiple industry segments, such as TPB’s business-to-business (Vapor Beast) and business-to-consumer (International Vapor Group) distribution platforms and its new product engine, Nu-X Ventures. The company has online platforms under brand names such as VaporFi, South Beach Smoke and DirectVapor. TPB also owns the e-liquid brand Solace and within its NewGen segment includes recent minority investments in the emerging cannabinoid space, including brands such as Old Pal, Dosist, Docklight and Wild Hemp.
TPB was one of the first traditional tobacco companies to publicly announce its foray into the legal cannabis market. That decision came under the leadership of TPB’s former president and CEO, Larry Wexler, who retired from the company and was succeeded by Yavor Efremov on Jan. 11. “Larry took the company public in 2016 as an OTP business, and over the next five years, he successfully drove significant initiatives to drive value, including the investment in new talent to drive TPB forward,” says Grossman. “We’ve been strategically focused on introducing new products to serve both B2B and B2C customers across on-premise retail and online channels.”
Yavor Efremov
Bump in the Road
Being a business with major assets in ENDS comes with challenges. TPB was one of the first major companies to receive a marketing denial order (MDO) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after the agency’s Sept. 9, 2021, deadline to decide on premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs). Convinced that the FDA’s decision was unjustified, TPB immediately filed a legal challenge. Before the lawsuit made its way through the courts, the FDA rescinded the MDO it issued to TPB. The term “Fatal Flaw” was used by the FDA for PMTA submissions that lacked certain studies. The term has been at the center of nearly all lawsuits filed against the FDA for its handling of the PMTA process.
“The Fatal Flaw standard is obviously one that departs from the pre-September 2020 guidance. In fact, it’s in direct conflict with that guidance. It’s helpful that [our MDO] was rescinded and that the agency admitted it had not reviewed certain [TPB] studies,” explains Paul Blair, TPB’s vice president of government affairs, adding that TPB made the decision to file suit because there was information that the regulatory agency overlooked in its review process. TPB wasn’t unique in that respect; however, the agency didn’t look at specific study data for several businesses.
“[The rescission] is an important recognition that our denial was not related to nitpicking over data. The science we submitted about transitioning combustible cigarette consumers to our products in particular … It was an oversight. And that’s helpful not only as we try to navigate the process moving forward but also because it doesn’t seem it was an attack on the body of our application generally,” explains Blair. “We maintain that we provided data that is sufficient for the agency to authorize the marketing of our PMTAs. It’s fair to say, though, there’s not a publicly announced standard for the approval process, whether it’s for open system products, closed system products, flavors and, honestly, even tobacco and traditional flavored products.”
That’s what Blair believes the FDA is doing now; the agency is probably reviewing its communications plan on how to reassess the PMTA process and come to some conclusions on deciding on a standard for authorizing products. Traditionally, the FDA would engage in good faith conversations with businesses trying to get products approved and offer some clarity on what information the agency needs. According to critics, the FDA’s Fatal Flaw analysis for ENDS products proved this isn’t the case anymore.
Paul Blair
Embracing Change
Unlike most traditional tobacco companies, TPB isn’t shy about its cannabis investments. The company’s management team and its board have embraced legalization, according to Grossman. Currently, 37 U.S. states have legalized medical cannabis and 18 have approved it for recreational use. During the past few years, the company has invested in several cannabis operations. In 2021, TPB completed an $8 million strategic investment in Old Pal Holding Co., a cannabis lifestyle brand, and an $8.7 million strategic investment in Docklight Brands, a consumer products company led by its anchor brands Marley Natural and Marley CBD. In 2020, TPB entered into a long-term distribution and profit-sharing arrangement with Wild Hempettes, the Texas-based manufacturer of Wild Hemp Hempettes brand smokable CBD, and made a $15 million strategic investment in the global cannabinoid company Dosist.
Grossman says that while every investment needs to be able to stand on its own, TPB’s strategy is focused on finding highly synergistic companies that strengthen the current TPB platform. Old Pal is a good example of how its strategy is being deployed—Old Pal sells roll-your-own (RYO) cannabis products with rolling papers inside the packaging. “Zig-Zag has historically been mainly focused on the convenience store channel, so this investment enables TPB to further accelerate growth in under-indexed stores such as dispensaries and head shops while supporting the growth of Old Pal,” says Grossman.
In August, TPB made its first move into the international market by increasing its stake in ReCreation Marketing, a Canadian distribution company with ties to Canada’s recreational cannabis culture. In December, ReCreation Marketing rebranded as Turning Point Brands Canada. “TPB Canada has a number of proprietary branded products in its portfolio, and we are exploring strategies to leverage that proven model and its portfolio to increase distribution within the U.S.,” says Grossman. “We are one of a select group of established companies—especially public companies—that are actively looking to deploy capital in the cannabinoid space. Historically, we’ve been predominately focused on brands given our expertise, but we’re exploring many verticals within the cannabinoid sector. Our pipeline is very healthy, but at the same time, we have to remain highly disciplined with how we spend our time and capital.”
It’s not just vaping and cannabis products in TPB’s future. In July, the company acquired certain cigar assets of Unitabac. The acquisition was for a portfolio of cigarillo products and all related intellectual property, including cigarillo non-tip, homogenized tobacco leaf, rolled leaf and natural leaf cigarillo products. “The cigar business is a $2.5 billion wholesale business in the United States. We’ve historically participated in that market, but we didn’t have the scale necessary to be really competitive. The Unitabac acquisition allows us to further extend into the cigar market,” says Grossman. “You’ll see a number of initiatives with that asset rolling out natural leaf products and other cigar assets, both under the Unitabac portfolio of brands as well as extending it to Zig-Zag.”
Scott Grossman
Facing Uncertainty
The FDA will soon have a new leader (Biden’s appointee, Robert Califf, had yet to be confirmed at press time). The FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) will also have a new leader; its current director, Mitch Zeller, plans to retire in April. Blair says that the individuals in those positions will have a significant role to play in determining how the agency and CTP will work with stakeholders and communicate policies about how those regulations will go into effect. The FDA, he says, doesn’t have any previous experience regulating vaping products, so there is going to be a lot of action, reaction and learning along the way.
“It’s not as if Congress explicitly wrote how the approval or denial process might look. In fact, they didn’t write the details,” says Blair. “At least [the FDA is] thinking about the process, and they’re thinking about the consequences. But there is this opportunity beyond vapor product PMTAs in 2022 for a future generation of products to have some certainty because at the end of this, whether it’s because of litigation, because it’s further issued guidance, because it’s approvals or denials, there will be a pathway for companies and a better understanding of how the process works.”
Blair says that overcoming the challenges of getting a PMTA approved will be stepping stones toward determining how the company approaches the future regulation of other products, such as cannabis. He says there is a real opportunity for TPB to play a critical role in the future of cannabis regulation and policy. “I think our action is going to be guided by our business’ experience as a regulated tobacco business. There are other tobacco businesses that have cannabis interests or investments, but there aren’t many that are willing to publicly engage in the way that ours is as an advocate for legalization, as an advocate for appropriate regulations. There needs to be a balance of consumer protection with entrepreneurship and opportunities in the investment space.”
Grossman says the future of TPB is to align itself with the growth of the cannabinoid industry and possibly make more direct cannabis investments outside its current portfolio. “We are concentrated on trying to learn and execute on a variety of cannabinoid initiatives,” he says. “Although we’ve historically focused on brands, we are deeply embedded in the sector and are actively studying many verticals across value-added products and services, brands and distribution. We believe the U.S. cannabis market will exceed $50 billion over the next five to 10 years, which we clearly think will benefit TPB over the long term.”
Timothy Donahue is the managing editor
of Vapor Voice. Since helping start the magazine in 2014, he has become an
expert and well-respected voice in the rapidly evolving
vapor industry. Tim spends much of his time on the
road, attending conferences and interviewing industry representatives.
His networking skills, work ethic and quick mind
are valuable assets to the industry’s diverse audience.
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) says it is astounded by “the hypocrisy and inequity” in the regulation of adult products.
Alcohol, a substance known to cause significant harm to health, faces no restrictions on the use of flavorings or warning label requirements in Canada, according to the association. On the other hand, nicotine vape products, a harm reduction product used primarily by smokers seeking to quit, have undergone rigorous regulation culminating in a proposal to restrict all pleasant “sensory attributes.”
Darryl Tempest
“Flavors are a common denominator across adult products,” the CVA wrote in a statement. “As the cannabis and vaping industries battle to keep flavors for adults, the alcohol sector operates freely and advertises broadly. The staggering double standard that exists for alcoholic beverages is absurd when compared side by side. “
“Vaping, unlike recreational cannabis or alcohol, provides a public health benefit,” said Darryl Tempest, executive director of the CVA. “The goal of health policy should be to capitalize on public health gains. Canada has now seen through Nova Scotia’s flavor ban, that reducing the appeal of vaping products to smokers results in increased smoking and the destruction of small businesses. The proposed regulations are not fit for purpose. Canadians don’t want regulation that causes increased smoking rates and fewer jobs.”
Health advocates and vapor industry groups criticized Canada’s proposal to ban all flavored vaping products except for tobacco, mint and menthol. Published June 19 in the Canada Gazette, the draft legislation was criticized for falling short by tobacco control advocates and for going too far by the Canadian Vaping Industry Association (CVA).
The CVA warned that if the flavor ban is implemented, it may push hundreds of thousands of consumers back to smoking or to the black market. “There is mounting evidence that flavors reduce cravings and increase smoking cessation success,” the organization wrote in a press note. “Research from Yale School of Public Health finds that smokers that quit using a flavored product are 2.5 times more likely to be successful.”
“We have repeatedly shared the science on vaping,” said Darryl Tempest, executive director of the CVA. “Regulators are aware of the important role flavors play in the adoption of vaping by smokers. A flavor ban will reduce the appeal of the product and will sentence many smokers to their death. There is sufficient data from regions with flavor bans to provide a clear understanding of the consequences. Flavor bans do little to protect youth and instead increase smoking rates and strengthen the black market.”
A flavor ban will reduce the appeal of the product and will sentence many smokers to their death.
ASH Canada, by contrast, described the decision to exempt mint and menthol from the flavor ban as an unacceptable concession to the vaping industry.
“The proposed regulations will not adequately protect Canadian youth from flavored vaping products” said Les Hagen, executive director of ASH, in a statement. “Menthol is the second most popular flavor among youth vapers. A partial ban on flavored vaping products in the U.S. resulted in massive switching to menthol flavored products. We expect a similar result in Canada if these regulations are approved.”
“There is no scientific justification for exempting menthol vaping products,” says Flory Doucas, co-director and spokesperson for the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control. “Menthol is the second most popular flavor among youth, tied with mango. We know that flavors are one of the main factors that attract young people to vaping, causing all kinds of health risks in addition to being one of the most addictive substances on the planet.”
The health groups decried the influence of the vaping industry on the debate. The CVA has been the most active of all lobbies on Parliament Hill in May, wrote ASH, citing The Lobby Monitor.
Over 400,000 Canadian youth are using vaping products, according to Health Canada’s latest survey conducted in 2019.
Stakeholders can comment on Canada’s draft flavor regulations until Sept. 2, 2021.
Health Canada is also publishing new restrictions on the nicotine concentration in vapor products. These regulations set a maximum nicotine concentration of 20 mg per mL in vaping products to make them less appealing to youth. The regulations also prohibit the packaging and sale of vaping products if the nicotine concentration of the products exceeds this limit. Manufacturers must adhere to this limit by July 8, 2021; retailers may not sell products that exceed this limit after July 23, 2021.
A Green MLA on Canada’s Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) who voted in favor of a private member’s bill to restrict the sale of flavored vaping products now says he believes vaping could be an important tool to get Islanders to quit smoking.
During question period on March 4, Green MLA Steve Howard said there is evidence that vaping could be considered a form of “harm reduction” for Islanders attempting to give up smoking. Smoking is often described by health officials as one of the leading causes of preventable deaths on P.E.I., according to a story in the Journal Pioneer.
Steve Howard / Credit: cbc.ca
Howard suggested that a bill that came into effect at the beginning of March, which banned flavored vaping products, would encourage youth to seek out flavored products on the black market.
The bill, introduced by Progressive Conservative backbencher Cory Deagle in 2019, also increased the legal age for tobacco and vaping products from 19 to 21 and limited the sale of vaping products to tobacco shops. The bill did not restrict the sale of tobacco products to tobacco shops. It passed unanimously in fall 2019.
“Many of the severe vaping illnesses we saw last year and in 2019 were linked to black market products. These black market products most often appear and become commercially viable when governments introduced wide-ranging restrictions on legal products,” Howard said.
“Are you concerned your regulatory approach will increase the availability and use of dangerous black market products?” Howard asked Minister of Finance Darlene Compton.
The question drew a rebuke from Compton. “I would suggest the Opposition pick a lane – pick any lane – and they’re all paved,” Compton said. “You do not want regulated gambling but you’re happy with regulated cannabis and you’re happy with regulated liquor. And now, you want regulated vaping or you want people to use unregulated vaping. I mean, pick a lane.”
In an interview, Howard said he had initially voted for the 2019 bill because he agreed it was important to ban flavored vaping products that are marketed to youth, such as cotton candy. But Howard said the regulations put in place ended up banning all flavored products, except those that resembled tobacco products.
He said this effectively nullified any possibility Islanders could transition to vaping as a means of quitting smoking. “Of course, the best option is to not use vaping or smoking,” Howard said. “But as far as a harm reduction tool goes, vaping is a powerful tool that we should not be discouraging people from using. And the flavors are a key component to uptake.”
Howard pointed to a posting on the Health Canada website that suggested there is evidence vaping could help with smoking cessation. He said the regulations should be changed to target vaping flavors targeted to youth. But he also suggested schools have a role to play.
“We don’t have anything in our curriculum in the education system right now to do with vaping. We have tobacco use, we have opiates, we have cannabis, we have alcohol. But we don’t have any education in there on vaping itself,” Howard said.
In less than two years, Canada’s Vaping Industry Trade Association has made great strides in saving lives.
By Timothy S. Donahue
Like nearly everywhere else in the world, the vaping industry in Canada is under fire. Lawmakers at all levels of government are seeking to or already have raised taxes, criminalized public vaping and banned flavored e-liquids. Moving into 2021, it is expected that the Canadian government will continue to try to ban flavors or possibly make regulations so onerous they kill the industry.
These kinds of regulatory actions have the potential to push former smokers back to combustible cigarettes, leading to an increase in the number of deaths caused by smoking every year. This is a major concern for trade industry groups like Canada’s Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA). While relatively new to the game, VITA has quickly grown into one of the largest and most vocal vaping trade associations in Canada.
Daniel David, a former smoker who used vapor products to quit traditional cigarettes, says that in mid-2019, VITA opened its doors with a goal of keeping Canada’s vaping industry from being regulated into oblivion. David, who opened Canada’s first vape shop in 2010, said VITA was founded after the Canadian government released its rules for electronic nicotine-delivery systems in mid-2018 (Tobacco and Vaping Products Act). He now serves as the advocacy group’s president and CEO.
Daniel David – Credit: VITA
When David began his journey in the vaping industry, there were not any regulations on vaping in Canada. He says the industry just stepped up and figured out regulations themselves. They implemented age restrictions and standards for testing e-liquids. He says he got into advocacy because, as a retailer, when people would come into his shop and discover vaping products, they would often cry and give him a hug. They would tell him that they had resigned themselves to dying from smoking cigarettes. “We got them vaping, and they didn’t want to go back to smoking,” he said. “It’s that kind of experience that makes vapor advocates so passionate because we know what the potential is with this product. The science is there.”
When he and his team decided to start VITA, David made the decision to dedicate himself to the organization full time. He asked his wife to take over running the business. “I made the decision that this is really important,” he said. “I needed to be able to dedicate my full time and attention to advocacy. I got into it early on because I wanted this industry to become something real, a legitimate industry. And I wanted to make sure that the products that we are selling are as safe and effective as they possibly can be. And when we started this adventure, there was a regulatory gap.”
When regulations came, they arrived quickly. They were also all over the board. Some provinces were implementing age restrictions (which VITA supports), while others were taking a more hardcore approach and wanted to ban flavors (which VITA does not support). Then a lung disease that many health groups and media outlets blamed on nicotine vaping began to envelop the industry.
Troubled waters
VITA got its start during the peak of the e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) crisis. The term was coined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a dangerous, newly identified lung disease that was eventually linked to vaping black market marijuana products. However, the CDC had already falsely stated that nicotine vaping may be a contributor, and the global media pounced. By the time the CDC admitted that no nicotine vaping products had been a source of EVALI, the damage had been done. Then came the youth vaping crisis. Then the Covid-19 pandemic. It was the perfect storm for anti-vaping groups to pursue their agenda.
Credit: VITA
“With all of the threats, public perception [for vaping products] took really big hit. EVALI, Covid[-19], youth use … it takes up the media cycle now. So, it’s a challenge in one respect to get mainstream media to say anything that’s factual, that’s relevant about vaping. Mind you, the media wasn’t ever really saying anything too positive about vaping prior,” David explains. “That hasn’t changed. The point is that these threats that we’re facing as an industry moving forward are, by far, the biggest threats that our industry has ever faced. We had multiple provinces that were coming out with new regulatory regimes around vaping, and it was all due to EVALI. A lot of the members in the industry started to see what was happening and it became vitally important that we all work together, or the industry would die.”
There are six founding members of VITA—Dvine Laboratories, Juul Labs Canada, Valor Distributions, Atelier de Saveurs LaVapeShop, Imperial Tobacco Canada (Vuse) and JTI Canada Tech (Logic). The companies committed to contributing $100,000 each year for three years, which provided a seat on the board for three years. This multi-year financial commitment allows VITA to hire staff and retain legal, government relations and public relations support. The investment also provided capital for programs and initiatives, such Covid-19 protocols and preventing youth access.
Today, VITA has 44 members and is governed by a 12-member board that represents multiple segments of the vaping industry from small manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and vape shops to the large multi-national tobacco companies that are also moving into the vaping industry. Traditional tobacco companies like Juul Labs and Logic have the same voice on the board as nontobacco affiliated companies such as Dvine Laboratories and LaVapeShop. The six founders also have an (equal) weighted vote share of 40 percent and the six elected (nontobacco affiliated) companies have a weighted vote share of 60 percent.
“We’ve put ourselves into a position where we have a lot of intelligence; we have a lot of highly experienced professional people that are part of this group. We have resources that we haven’t really had in the past,” said David. “There is still an aspect [of this industry] that people are hesitant about. There’s still a lot of conspiracy theories out there, especially under the view that the tobacco-affiliated [vape] companies just want to see the industry die so they can continue to sell cigarettes. And that’s just not true. We are dedicated to harm reduction. We want to serve as a voice for the entire category, regardless as to the distribution channel.”
Closer to home
The Canadian vapor industry is complicated. Restrictions vary across the country. Youth use is a major driver of restrictions in Canada. David says that VITA supports age restrictions, and “minors should not use or have access” to vaping products. “Vaping products are for current adult smokers only, not youth or nonsmokers,” he says emphatically. “Governments should focus on the issues of access, enforcement and education.”
Restrictions dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic were especially burdensome. In Manitoba, for example, the government established a list of essential businesses and did not include vape shops. The province then forced all nonessential businesses to close. They even went a step further and only deemed certain products as essential. This meant that convenience stores were open as an essential business; however, the stores could only sell essential products, according to David.
“They have a list of what is essential and what is not. On that list, you have tobacco products are essential, and it specifically states vape products are not. So, the smoking population and vaping population in Manitoba [are] faced with a choice,” explains David. “They can’t get their vape products from vape shops because they’re all closed. If they were to go into a gas station or convenience store, which are open, they are only allowed to buy tobacco cigarettes. The vape products that are two inches below that tobacco cigarette, because it’s nonessential, customers can’t purchase.”
Credit: VITA
In April 2020, Nova Scotia instituted a 20 mg/mL nicotine cap coupled with a flavor ban. Neilson data showed that cigarette sales increased over 25 percent—a rate four times higher than surrounding provinces, according to David. Moreover, 50 percent of all specialty vape shops immediately closed. Hundreds of Canadians were out of work. Then, in July 2020, the Canadian government unveiled new regulations related to the marketing of vaping products. The new rules prohibit the display of any branding in a “place or manner visible to young people and will ensure that vaping devices are not visible at point of sale in places where young people might be present.”
By December 2020, Nova Scotia’s regulatory framework had creeped its way across the country and into Canada’s House of Parliament. The federal government proposed lowering allowable nicotine levels in regulated vapor products to 20 mg/mL, which David said would minimize their value to adult smokers seeking to transition to less risky products. “Considering the disparity of harm between vaping and smoking, we don’t understand why the federal government would be using Health Canada resources during a global pandemic to explore making it harder for adult smokers to switch to a reduced risk product.”
Canada continues to pursue several vapor industry regulations. It has already passed multiple measures, including implementing child-resistant container (CRC) usage nationwide. VITA applauded the effort for e-liquid bottles but was concerned about the challenges and timeframe of applying the same standard to tank/pod hardware. However, the VITA team has been actively engaged with international device manufacturers, associated companies and Health Canada regarding the implementation of the new requirements for refillable tanks and pods. In support of compliance efforts, VITA even developed a list of certified products that are currently (or soon to be) available for retailers on the Canadian market.
“The CRC list has been set up so that it can be updated live, meaning that as new products are certified and released, the list will be updated and automatically distributed to subscribers at the end of the week,” says David. “Stakeholders are encouraged to share this within the industry and to notify VITA staff of any certified device currently not on this list.”
The good fight
David says there is not time to rest. In order to continue to combat the misconceptions surrounding the vapor industry, VITA had to start at the ground level. The organization launched several programs for member retailers. Age verification, recognizing fake IDs, best practices and business law are just some of the programs offered, according to David. VITA also breaks down the regulatory and legislative responsibilities of different industry segments by province because the rules change throughout the country.
“When the pandemic hit, VITA developed Covid-19 prevention measures, including specific guidance and signage for members. When the industry is facing something like we’re facing now … Covid-19 had a really big impact because we had to make a major switch,” said David. “We also conducted several webinars for Covid[-19], such as financial support programs from the government. We brought somebody in to talk about what was available and then outline how you would apply.”
VITA also designed and created a series of webinars for e-liquid manufacturers that were considering retooling to produce hand sanitizer. David said that, like many countries, Canada ran out of hand sanitizer early in the Covid-19 response. “We came up with a way to support manufacturers in the vaping industry to retool and get an urgent license to produce it,” he explains. “All the Covid[-19] measures forced us to change focus temporarily, but we never forgot the other challenges our industry was facing.”
Canada’s two major regulatory challenges are nicotine restrictions and flavor bans. David says that those two elements put together—a tobacco-only flavor ban—it would kill the industry. “It’s pretty well over at that point, at least for 90 percent of the industry,” he says. “That’s one of those kinds of things that required us to adjust what we were working on and our priorities as the situation evolved.”
Credit: Vaporesso
The VITA team believed that fighting the growing number of regulatory challenges was going to require everyone in the industry working together. So, the VITA board and its allies decided to bring together every vape association in Canada in order to share information and coordinate efforts wherever possible. This includes the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA), the only other national vapor trade association in Canada.
“What we’re doing right now is the biggest kind of success story. Even though we might not agree on a lot of things, we still now have a group that meets regularly where we can share intelligence,” says David. “We coordinate some of our efforts so that we’re not working against each other or going in completely opposite directions. Obviously, everybody has their own organization, and they operate independently, but it helps significantly when we’re all talking together, pushing in the same direction on the common ground issues that we face.”
The timing is right. The regulatory challenges won’t be slowing down anytime soon. When the Canadian government released its regulations on limiting nicotine, they stated that [the government] would be looking at banning flavors next, said David. “At a federal level, those two measures, if they were to go through as is, it basically ends the vaping industry in Canada as we know it,” he says. “I think maybe a few shops would survive, but any time you take away 85 [percent to] 90 percent of the products that are the highest margin … and you remove the ability to sell the high-nicotine products, which a lot of people rely on, it makes the whole retail model of a vape shop nonviable.”
It’s a big fight. The VITA response is going to be educational. David said the organization is letting the public know that the government is proposing to make it harder for smokers to switch to a less harmful alternative. David said getting as many people as possible from the industry, including stakeholders and consumers, engaged in this consultation process is vital to the future of vaping.
“The more people that we can get involved and activated by letting the government know that this is not the right approach, the better our chances are,” says David. “That kind of goes with working together with any associations and trade groups. There are a lot of threats coming up. We can’t waste our time fighting each other.”
Flavored vaping products are banned on Prince Edward Island in Canada. The regulation changes were passed by cabinet in August of last year. It comes as part of a private members bill from PC MLA Cory Deagle, which received unanimous support from the legislature in 2019, to crack down on nicotine use among young people.
Manager J-K Thorne holds some of the flavored products that are no longer available at Wild Impulse vape shop. (Shane Hennessey/CBC – image credit)
“The only flavor you’ll be able to use would be tobacco flavored so all those other flavors will be gone,” Deagle said. “This is probably one of the biggest steps that we’re going to see trying to get rid of, or at least reduce, the amount of youth that are vaping.”
Vendors were notified of the upcoming ban on flavored products in August 2020, in a letter distributed by the Department of Health and Wellness, according to the CBC. The letter said the department believed that with six month advance notice, “tobacconist shops have sufficient time to deplete their inventory of flavored electronic smoking device products.”
At Wild Impulse, a vape shop in Charlottetown, the shelves were still full of flavored products last Friday afternoon, with the ban just days away. Manager J-K Thorne said the store carries more than 45 flavors for vaping, but as of March 1st, they will only be able to sell ones that are tobacco flavored, flavorless or labelled clear, adding that the flavor ban is also pushing former smokers back to combustible cigarettes.
“Customers are a little disappointed. They feel that they have something to lean on if they wanted to get off cigarettes,” Thorne said. “They found that the tobacco flavor actually reminded them of cigarettes, but it wasn’t good enough, and it actually brought them back to buying cigarettes, which is a little unfortunate.”
In late December of last year, the Government of Canada announced a proposal to lower the allowable levels of nicotine in vaping products from 66 milligrams per millilitre to 20 mg/ml in an effort to curb youth vaping. The public consultation period would be in effect for 75 days, closing on Mar. 4, 2021.
Credit: Toptop54
The proposed reduction is a move vaping advocates say will minimize their value to adult smokers looking to transition away from cigarettes, according to the Morinville News.
However, the Canada-based Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) says smokers having access to sufficient nicotine levels in an alternate product is essential to the effectiveness of vaping as a harm reduction product. “A limit of 20mg/mL is simply too low for many smokers,” Allan Rewak executive director of VITA stated in a media release. “Adult smokers need access to higher nicotine vapor products at the beginning of their journey from smoking to vaping. Lowering this limit is just going to keep more smokers smoking.”
The Canadian government is following a move by Nova Scotia, who in April of this year, instituted a 20mg/mL nicotine cap as well as a flavor ban. VITA says that change in the rules saw a 25 percent increase in legal cigarette sales increase, an increase four times higher than surrounding provinces. The regulations also resulted in half of the province’s specialty vape shops closing their doors.
“Considering the disparity of harm between vaping and smoking, we don’t understand why the federal government would be using Health Canada resources during a global pandemic to explore making it harder for adult smokers to switch to a reduced risk product,” said VITA president Daniel David.
Enforcement the real problem
The Government of Canada has previously put some measures in place to address youth vaping. Those changes include public education campaigns and banning the advertising of vaping products in public spaces if the ads can be seen or heard by youth.
Thomas Kirsop, owner of Alternatives & Options, a vape store in Morinville and St. Albert said he believes the government is taking the wrong approach with the nicotine reduction to handle the rise in youth vaping.
“A 60 percent reduction in commercially available nicotine concentration will impede my ability to assist the heaviest smokers,” Kirsop said. “It is a federal offence to knowingly sell vapor products to minors or for members of the adult population to provide these products to underaged consumers. In practice, however, I find this law poorly enforced. I think enforcing the current law would yield more significant gains than destroying the efficacy of a less harmful solution.”
Health Canada says restricting flavors in vaping products, and requiring the vaping industry to provide information about their vaping products, including sales, ingredients, and research and development activities are under consideration.
