Nicotine pouches are being illegally sold in corner stores across Canada

In aug 2024 the federal soldier regime modified the sales agreement of nicotine pouches to pharmacies over growing concerns raised by multiple health groups about their popularity among non-smokers and youth. 

Nicotine pouches are highly regulated by Health Canada as natural health products for those 18 and over and are supposed to function as a tool to help people quit smoking. 

Zonnic, owned by Imperial Tobacco Canada, is the only brand legally available for sale at pharmacies. The company is only authorized to sell four-milligram pouches in "mint or menthol" flavours to limit their appeal to kids and teens, under the regulations.

Corner store after corner store sold such packs in fruity flavours and doses as high as 15 milligrams.

And online, multiple distributors claiming to be located in Canada offered an array of pouch brands in unauthorized flavours and high doses, coupled with a promise to deliver quickly and discreetly.

"If you take a highly addictive drug like nicotine and you wrap it up and sell it in lovely flavours with lovely branding and you put messages around that, that it's fun to use … kids are going to buy it and they're going to use it," said David Hammond, a professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences, who studies tobacco control.

"The early signs are that [nicotine] pouches are more popular among Canadian youth than they are among adults. And as far as we can tell, that's been growing."

According to Hammond’s research, five per cent of Canadian youth have tried using a pouch, which equates to about 100,000 kids.

He says the problem is that advertising is targeted at kids. 

“When you have gummy bear flavors or cola or some of these marketing messages, it's not something a 50-year-old smoker looks to use to help them to quit. It's something a 15-year-old grabs on their way to the party.”

In an emailed statement the local subsidiary of Philip Morris International — Rothmans, Benson & Hedges — wrote that the "products at issue are being sold by unauthorized parties," and that it "works with law enforcement to stop illicit trade and we are supportive of government efforts on this front.”

The new rules prohibit Zonnic from using any advertising or packaging that could be considered attractive to young people, but experts say pernicious ads by other brands are still circulating on social media platforms such as TikTok, saying their products are discreet and easy to use.

The small white packets are tucked between a person's upper lip and gums and the nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream through mucous membranes.

“Some people see them as a way to recruit new people and expand the nicotine market. Some people see them as a way to help adult smokers to quit. And they're both right,” said Hammond.

Nicotine pouches do not contain tobacco or the cancer-causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke. But Health Canada says nicotine is highly toxic and powerfully addictive, particularly to youth.

“Nicotine, in any form, is a risk for a young and developing brain,” said Dr. Nicholas Chadi, a pediatrician and clinician at Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre in Montreal who specializes in adolescent and addiction medicine.

Chadi says he’s seeing more and more young people using pouches in flavours and doses that are not authorized for sale in Canada. He says the fact that the pouches are discreet and deliver a significant amount of nicotine to the body is attractive to youth. He says nicotine can increase alertness, focus, heart rate and bring a pleasurable feeling that lasts 30 to 60 minutes. 

But young people can be especially vulnerable to its negative effects.

“The younger a person is exposed to nicotine, the higher the risk of eventually developing dependence and addiction,” said Chadi.

“A body can develop dependence and tolerance to nicotine, which means that your body is accustomed to it and if you stop using it, your body and brain is screaming for more.”

He adds that the younger a person is when they’re exposed to nicotine, the higher the risk of eventually developing dependence and addiction. But that’s not all.

“We are also seeing through research that nicotine has some impacts on how the brain develops and is also associated with all sorts of mental health and also physical health problems.” 

Ashley Biswanger says she started using nicotine pouches as a teenager to try to wean herself off vaping. She describes being instantly hooked and liking the head rush they provided.

“It was like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing,’” said the 21-year-old political science major at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.

Biswanger says pouches were popular among her friends who played hockey.

“They were using it at the time because, these hockey players, they couldn't vape because of all the cardio.”

Biswanger says she started using 12 milligram pouches, but as her tolerance grew she she took more and more. 

Biswanger says she stopped when she realized the impact it was having on her quality of life. “I would always be in my bed in my pajamas,” she said. “I just got really lazy, like, as the years went by.”

Canada needs a regulatory system that can better anticipate new nicotine pouches, and prevent them from growing in popularity among youth, Hammond says.

“We had a bit of an own goal when we first approved these pouches, where we approved them without any minimum legal age of sale, very little warnings, all sorts of flavours,” he said. 

Biswanger managed to quit using nicotine pouches cold turkey a few months ago. Now she’s warning other young people against starting the destructive habit.

“It is so not worth it,” she said.

“All I wanted to do was come home to use them … that's how addictive they were.”

Senior Reporter

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