The days of flavoured vaping products are numbered here in Canada.
Federal Health Minister [dis-] Hon. Mark Holland has taken it upon himself to decide what is best for you when it comes to quitting smoking.
Out of one side of his mouth, he speaks of embracing innovation when it comes to cessation. From the other side? An unhinged rant, spouting lies and uninformed opinions, and citing junk science on flavoured vaping products. How can you "embrace innovation" and want to ban the most innovative smoking cessation tool, to date?
He doesn't care about your health, or mine. He takes his orders from Tobacco Control/NGO's, one of which he has very strong ties in particular. In his press conference, he repeats "power" and "authority" in nearly every sentence. Power and authority is all he cares about.
The 2021 Canada Gazette 1, detailing the proposed regulations surrounding flavoured vaping products, limits flavours to tobacco, mint, menthol, and mint/menthol made up of 40-some-odd "approved" compounds, and prohibits everything else. A number of these compounds are found on various global carcinogenic/mutagenic/reprotoxic lists. Not one product in any store that sells flavoured vaping products, would be in compliance with these regulations. With your help, this CG1 was placed on the back burner...until just recently, when Mark Holland decided to resurrect it.
A flavour ban of this magnitude would force the closure of hundreds of specialty vape stores across Canada, force job losses in the thousands, vapourize (no pun intended) tax revenue at both provincial/territorial and federal levels, increase cigarette sales at an unprecedented rate, and create a MASSIVE, dangerous black market. We saw what happened with VALI in the USA back in 2018 with black market cannabis products...the illnesses and deaths attributed to illicit cannabis products cut with tocopherol acetate (vitamin E oil). The result of this current "Health" Minister's iron fist ruling will eclipse what we saw with VALI.
Canada Gazette 2, which outlines what regulations are officially law, is slated for publication between June 20th and 28th, this year. Typically, there is a 180-day timeframe from publication for everyone to come into compliance.
We have a very short period of time, and we need your help.
Rights4Vapers, a consumer-based advocacy group has put together a "mail your MP" campaign. It takes only a couple of minutes and is very easy to complete. Rights4Vapers will mail your letter on your behalf, all you have to do is complete a form, click a few checkboxes, and submit.
Head on over to Rights4Vapers and get started. Vapers, friends, family, and supporters alike.
Access to harm reduction is your constitutional right. We have a lot of work to do, so let's all band together and fight this. Strength in numbers, as it were.