So far, Health Canada\u2019s attempts to regulate access to the highly addictive product have been a dismal failure, some experts say.<\/p>\n
Currently, the pouches, which are produced and marketed by the world\u2019s largest tobacco companies, are only allowed to be sold as smoking cessation aids through pharmacies. But\u00a0a survey of websites and about 30 independent Toronto convenience stores by the Star found the pouches are often being sold without age verification, and some retailers are selling\u00a0brands, flavours and dosages that are not approved by Health Canada.<\/p>\n
Health professionals are concerned. Some worry that rather than helping users quit smoking, the pouches could addict users and lead to cigarette smoking and vaping later in life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now law-abiding convenience store owners, who feel they\u2019re forfeiting profits for playing by the rules, are asking the government for permission to sell the pouches legally. The stores argue that they\u2019re already allowed to sell age-restricted products like cigarettes and alcohol, and should be allowed to sell a product that could help customers quit smoking.<\/p>\n
Generally speaking, \u201cstores that are arguing that they should be trusted to sell these products \u2026 are also the ones that are selling illegal nicotine pouches right now,\u201d said David Hammond, a professor in Waterloo\u2019s school of public health.<\/p>\n
To put pouches back in convenience stores, Hammond said, would be like \u201cputting the fox in the henhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Professor and researcher David Hammond poses at the University of Waterloo\u2019s school of public health sciences, said people who get advice from a qualified health professional, like a pharmacist, are more likely to quit smoking.<\/p>\n
March 3, 2026. For a story about nicotine pouches and their impact on teens and young adults. Andrew Francis Wallace\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n
Andrew Francis Wallace Toronto Star<\/p>\n
Only two\u00a0brands of nicotine pouches are legally allowed to be sold in Canada\u00a0\u2014 Zonnic and NE\u00d6 \u2014 and both are limited to a 4 mg dose and mint flavours. But when Health Canada first approved nicotine pouches as a natural health product in July 2023, there were few regulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n The original approval was for\u00a0use as a nicotine replacement therapy to help adults quit smoking, but often the advertising showed young people using them and having fun.<\/p>\n Only two brands of nicotine pouches are legally allowed to be sold in Canada\u00a0\u2014 Zonnic, pictured, and NE\u00d6.<\/p>\n Steve Russell Toronto Star<\/p>\n \u201cVapes and nicotine pouches came out of a world not initially making health claims, but where these could be kind of a lifestyle enhancement product that would stimulate you,\u201d said Daniel Robinson, a professor of media studies at the University of Western Ontario and author of \u201cCigarette Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Zonnic is owned by Imperial Tobacco Canada, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. One of Zonnic\u2019s original advertisements, since pulled from social media, featured a young person with the words \u201cPop it … tuck it … and it tingles,\u201d and was available in flavours like \u201ctropical breeze\u201d and \u201cberry frost.\u201d\u00a0NE\u00d6\u00a0is owned by Swedish Smokeless Solutions.<\/p>\n \u201cZynfluencers,\u201d as they\u2019re called (Zyn is another brand of nicotine pouch), leverage sizable social media followings to sell young men on the idea that nicotine pouches are compatible with both active and party lifestyles\u00a0\u2014 you can pack your lip with a pillow at the gym or the bar.<\/p>\n Many influencers talk about the pleasure of the nicotine buzz as well as positive cognitive effects that help you focus.<\/p>\n Robinson noted that\u00a0cigarettes were also initially marketed as a productivity booster, helping workers execute otherwise boring tasks.<\/p>\n Imperial Tobacco Canada said that it follows the rules when selling its products in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n We work \u201cwith thousands of licensed retailers across the country who sell our legal nicotine products in compliance with federal and provincial regulations,\u201d said Eric Gagnon, vice-president of\u00a0corporate and regulatory affairs at\u00a0Imperial Tobacco Canada, in a statement to the Star.<\/p>\n \u201cWe maintain standard commercial relationships with retailers, as well as provincial and national convenience store associations, that help ensure only adult consumers can access regulated nicotine products through legitimate channels.\u201d<\/p>\n The easiest brand to find on the street and online, Zyn,\u00a0is not authorized for sale in Canada. It\u2019s owned by Swedish Match, a subsidiary of Philip Morris International.<\/p>\n When asked about Zyn\u2019s prevalence,\u00a0the tobacco company suggested that the product seen here may be counterfeit.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn Canada, we\u2019ve increasingly seen the rise of counterfeit Zyn originating from China, in flavours and nicotine levels not manufactured or sold by Philip Morris International,\u201d a spokesperson for Rothmans, Benson & Hedges said in a statement.<\/p>\n The subsidiary of Philip Morris said it works with law enforcement to stop illicit trade of counterfeit and contraband products in Canada.<\/p>\n In late 2023, former health minister Mark Holland said that the government was \u201cduped\u201d by the tobacco companies who, he claimed, used a loophole to push the product through.<\/p>\n According to Robinson, the industry hasn\u2019t changed its approach much since the 20th century; convenience stores have always been on the front line of Big Tobacco\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a better defender of your industry to have a mom-and-pop person in a variety store saying, \u2018without that business we could go under and we\u2019re not going to be here for the milk and bread that you might need in your neighbourhood,\u2019 \u201d said Robinson.<\/p>\n Both Imperial Tobacco Canada and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges are vendor partners of the Convenience Industry Council of Canada (CICC).<\/p>\n Kenny Shim is the president of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association and has operated Busy Bee Mart at King and Bathurst in Toronto for more than 35 years.<\/p>\n The businessman said the decision to ban nicotine pouch sales was a financial hit to convenience stores that were already struggling due to dwindling cigarette sales.<\/p>\n \u201cHalf the sales in convenience stores used to be tobacco related,\u201d\u00a0said Shim. \u201cIt\u2019s like half the revenue is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenny Shim, the owner of Busy Bee King Mart on King Street West, and head of the Ontario Convenience Store Association, in one of the aisles of his store.<\/p>\n Nick Kozak Special to the Star<\/p>\n He said he doesn\u2019t sell nicotine pouches, but believes they were a healthier option for his customers that could also help recoup revenue.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the government decides that it\u2019s killing people, ban it,\u201d said Shim. \u201cBut don\u2019t move it to another market so that the black market gets bigger and bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n The Star found that more than 20\u00a0of roughly 30 stores visited around the city are illegally selling nicotine pouches in a variety of flavours, and in dosages up to five times the amount of nicotine approved for safe use by Health Canada.<\/p>\n The pouches were typically hidden behind convenience store counters and several had health warnings written in Swedish, inscrutable to English speakers.<\/p>\n Gagnon, at Imperial Tobacco Canada, said that authorizing convenience stores to sell the product legally could help curb such unauthorized sales.<\/p>\n \u201cOur focus is on supporting a well-regulated legal market that protects youth, ensures product standards are respected, and prevents the continued growth of illicit nicotine products that are widely available online and through unregulated sellers,\u201d he wrote in an email to the Star.<\/p>\n \u201cThe unintended consequences of restricting Health Canada authorized cessation products, such as nicotine pouches, to pharmacies only are undeniable and dangerous. The illicit market is flourishing, with an estimated 70 per cent of nicotine pouch sales now illegal, involving non\u2011regulated, often high\u2011nicotine products sold without age verification.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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