(The Canadian Press)

By Alison Sandstrom

New regulations

E-cigarettes in the spotlight as province prepares for regulations

Jan 7, 2020 | 1:51 PM

The United States has announced it will ban most flavoured e-cigarettes. And as Saskatchewan’s own vaping regulations are set to take effect this spring, a local retailer says it’s high nicotine content, not fun flavours governments should be concerned about.

Selling vape products near schools or displaying them in gas stations will soon be prohibited in the province. Purchase of the products will be restricted to people 18 and older. Vaping will no longer be allowed around public buildings, including schools, and advertising e-cigarettes will be restricted the same way tobacco products are. The sale of vape products will also be banned at facilities that youth frequent, like amusement parks or arcades.

In an email to paNOW the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health said it will be consulting with stakeholders on how to address flavoured vape products in this province in the coming months.

47.5 per cent of Saskatchewan youth in Grades 7 to 12 have tried e-cigarettes.
_{– Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol And Drug Survey, 2019}

“That brings Saskatchewan up to what eight other provinces have already done,” Canadian Cancer Society senior policy analyst Rob Cunningham told paNOW. “But what we’re now seeing is that other provinces have gone beyond that and Saskatchewan should as well.”

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Saskatchewan and Alberta are currently the only provinces in the country with no regulations on vaping.

According to a government commissioned survey, 47.5 per cent of Saskatchewan youth in Grades 7 to 12 have tried e-cigarettes, the highest rate in the country. One in 10 have smoked e-cigarettes in the last month.

“We are seeing dramatic increases in youth vaping and there needs to be a comprehensive response by governments,” Cunningham said.

New american regulations

On Thursday the Trump administration announced it will ban fruit, candy, mint and dessert flavours from small, cartridge-based e-cigarettes that are popular with high school students. Menthol and tobacco-flavoured e-cigarettes are exempt.

Large, tank-based vaping devices, which are primarily sold in vape shops that cater to adult smokers, will not be subject to the flavour ban.

Concern over high nicotine concentrations

Meanwhile, a local vape retailer says the government shouldn’t get hung up on banning flavoured e-cigarettes, and should worry instead about products with high nicotine concentrations.

Arliss Plummer, owner of Vita Vapes in Prince Albert, says teenagers are attracted to high nicotine vape liquids for the head rush.

“I refuse, I do not, I have never carried the high milligram juice. It was a line I wouldn’t cross,” she said. “Somebody’s going to get hurt.”

While B.C. has passed legislation limiting the nicotine content of vape liquids and pods to 20 mg/ml, in other jurisdictions including Saskatchewan, concentrations as high as 50 mg/ml are sold.

“Most people had 18 [mg/ml], some 24 [mg/ml] before it came into the gas stations and we didn’t have a teenage vaping problem then,” Plummer said. “When it came into the gas stations with the 50 mg juice, they’re getting a head buzz off of it, that’s why they’re using it.”

The Ministry of Health confirmed by email there are no plans at this time to ban vape liquids and pods with higher concentrations of nicotine.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom