Smoking in Canada
In Canada, smoking is allowed and tobacco products are regulated. Under these regulations, cigarettes can be sold, purchased online, used, and bought from vending machines. The importation of cigarettes for trade is permitted with a trade license. Health warnings are required on cigarette packaging, the minimum legal age for sales is 18 years, and there are legal restrictions on smoking in public places. Cigarettes are subject to an excise tax value of 54.47% and a total taxation rate of 63.34%. Available data show that smoking remains a significant public health issue in Canada. In 2024, there were approximately 3.5 million current smokers aged 15 years and older. This shows that the adult current smoking prevalence was 10.6% in 2024, with 13.1% among males and 8.1% among females. In comparison, this prevalence was 11.4% in 2022. For reference, the number of daily smokers was approximately 3.5 million in 2017 which shows that the adult daily tobacco smoking prevalence was 11.6%, with 19.1% among males and 13.4% among females. In 2021, smoking led to 34,171 deaths in Canada, including 20,700 deaths among males and 13,471 among females. This indicates that smoking accounted for 11% of all deaths in 2021 in the country, including 12.8% of male deaths and 9.04% of female deaths.
Read articles from Canada
February 01, 2021 by globalnews.ca
Judge upholds Nova Scotia’s vaping restrictions, denies injunction request of vape shop co-owner
A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has denied a resident’s application for an injunction against the provincial government’s tough-on-vaping rules.
William MacEachern, co-owner of the Cloud Factory Vape Shop in Dartmouth, alleged that increased taxes on vaping products and devices, a ban on flavoured e-cigarettes and vape juice, and a prohibition on sampling such items in stores unduly restricted his access to a critical harm reduction tool.
January 28, 2021 by saltwire.com
Breaking the addiction when you'd 'rather smoke than eat'
It starts with nicotine. C10H14N2. Ten carbon atoms, 14 hydrogens, and two nitrogens in each molecule.
When consumed by humans through smoking, nicotine is taken up by receptors in the brain, stimulating the release of dopamine, a chemical messenger that elicits feelings of happiness. When working properly, it stimulates and rewards actions that are beneficial to the body. Addiction is a behavioural response to that rush.
Every story of addiction is personal and unique, held together by the threads of dependence. That’s no different for Nova Scotia’s Shelley Caffatos and PEI’s Kim Asling-Ings, who struggled to quit smoking.
January 26, 2021 by globalnews.ca
Dartmouth vape shop co-owner seeks injunction against Nova Scotia’s vaping restrictions
The co-owner of a vape shop in Dartmouth is seeking an injunction against Nova Scotia’s newest restrictions on vaping, arguing they unfairly burden adults who are trying to kick a bad habit.
William MacEachern of the Cloud Factory Vape Shop has launched a constitutional challenge against increased taxes on vaping products, a ban on flavoured e-cigarettes and vaping juices, and a prohibition on sampling such items in vaping shops.
January 20, 2021 by nnsl.com
Canadian Cancer Society ‘very concerned’ with NWT smoking prevalence
The number of smokers per capita in the NWT remains more than double the national average and stubbornly so, something that should worry policymakers within the territorial government, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the society, said although there are some signs of progress, smoking rates remain far too high in the NWT. “My general comments are that the smoking prevalence rate is 35 per cent when Canada-wide it is 15 per cent,” Cunningham said.
January 12, 2021 by regulatorwatch.com
Nicotine Naysayers | Could Nicotine Restrictions Do More Harm Than Good? | RegWatch
The Canadian federal government announced late last year that it’s moving to restrict nicotine levels in vaping products that are manufactured, imported, or packaged for sale in Canada. Joining us today to talk about the impact and efficacy of nicotine caps is Lynne Dawkins, Professor of Nicotine and Tobacco Studies at London South Bank University. Professor Dawkins is one of the UK’s leading authorities on e-cigarettes, having published numerous papers on the use, acute effects and delivery of nicotine through vaping products.
January 11, 2021 by theglobeandmail.com
At the root of the opioid crisis is our belief that Big Pharma can cure pain. Can we kick that habit?
Overdoses are a deadly epidemic that we’ll still have to live with after COVID-19 is gone, but without similar promises of vaccination and return to normal – only the hope that we can change our attitudes. Opioid deaths are the epidemic no one wants to think about within the epidemic no one can stop talking about. In the past 3½ years, more than 17,602 Canadians have died of opioid-related overdoses. And between April and June last year, as COVID-19 throttled the country for the first time, overdose deaths jumped a record 58 per cent over the previous quarter. [...]
December 18, 2020 by vapingpost.com
Canada: Vape Association Sets Out to Dispel Vaping Myths
“The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) is alarmed by the resurgence of articles inaccurately depicting vaping as being as harmful as smoking, as well as linking vaping to increased COVID-19 symptom severity. As both claims have long been disproven, it is concerning to see a sudden return of misinformation coming out of the United States,” read the opening paragraph of the release. The association referred to the fact that the UK’s Royal College of Physicians first concluded that vaping is at least 95 percent less harmful than smoking six years ago. [...]
December 16, 2020 by globalnews.ca
Legal cigarette sales rose in Atlantic provinces during coronavirus bubble: study
An association representing Canadian convenience stores say the border closure between Quebec and New Brunswick may have helped choke off the illegal tobacco trade in Atlantic Canada.
An Ernst & Young report [...] says the so-called Atlantic bubble erected to limit the spread of COVID-19 could explain why legal cigarette sales jumped in the region.
“We’ve always known (illegal sales were) a big problem in Ontario and Quebec, but I think what this really showed was you had another factor for Atlantic Canada, which was, essentially, the closure of the border,” council president Anne Kothawala said in an interview Monday.
December 10, 2020 by montrealgazette.com
Quebec to ban vaping flavours and restrict nicotine content
Quebec intends to ban the sale of flavoured vaping cartridges and limit their nicotine content after a public health report warned of a major increase in youth vaping in the province.
“With the growing popularity of vaporization products, especially among young people, it becomes imperative to act to prevent a new generation from becoming addicted to nicotine because of these products,” Health Minister Christian Dubé said Wednesday in a statement.
December 01, 2020 by globenewswire.com
Unintended consequences: New regulations must protect youth while maintaining access to harm reduction for adult smokers
On November 26th, the Implementation Report of the Tobacco Control Act, was tabled on behalf of Health Minister Christian Dube. Upon review of the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control’s release regarding the report, the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) warns that the policy changes recommended by QCTC will result in increased smoking rates and negative public health outcomes. [...] The CVA has been a consistent advocate for strong youth protection measures and has worked with many governments to create a framework that balances youth protection with adult access.