Nicotine pouch regulation changes not being considered: health minister

Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel says she’s not considering changes to regulations that restrict the sale of nicotine pouches, while tobacco control groups say the government needs to do more to tamp out the illicit market.

Health Canada regulates nicotine pouches as an aid to quit smoking and restricts their sales to adults. They are not allowed to be sold for recreational use and must be kept behind the counter at pharmacies.

Only one brand has been approved for sale since 2024. Zonnic, which is made by Imperial Tobacco, is sold in four milligram pouches and flavours are restricted to reduce their appeal to children.

Advertising and lobbying campaigns from Unsmoke Canada — which is part of Rothman, Benson and Hedges, the Canadian subsidiary of Philip Morris International — urge the federal government to allow the sale of pouches in retail stores, similar to cigarettes, as a way to control the illicit market.

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“That’s not something I’m considering,” Michel said on Tuesday.

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The minister said she agrees the illicit market is an issue. Pouches from brands like Zyn, from Philip Morris, are entering Canada and studies show they’re making their way into the hands of Canadian youth despite the rules.

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Flory Doucas, co-director of the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control, said there’s not enough serious enforcement to control illicit sales, which are happening both online and in storefronts.

“The failure to enforce a regulation properly puts government in a very tricky situation and does open the door to weakening regulations,” she said.

“It shouldn’t be, but it sets a narrative that industry exploits.”

She said it’s worrying that lobbying efforts by the tobacco industry have reached the Prime Minister’s Office.

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The National Post reported earlier this month that the Liberal government was open to the idea of loosening the regulations, after convenience store industry lobbyists met with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s chief of staff and other senior officials.

The pressure has also come from the government’s political opposition. Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives pledged to “free the Zyn” during the 2025 election campaign.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wrote a letter to Carney last March arguing that the restrictions create barriers for adults who want to quit smoking and that the regulations have driven the growth of the black market.

Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control and Action on Smoking and Health Canada said in a news release on Wednesday that research shows nicotine pouch use is rising among young Canadians and warned that allowing their sales more openly will make the product easier for youth to access.

Michel said stopping online sales is a particular challenge.

“I cannot say that as a health minister, I can track every single package in the illicit market. That would be completely not serious for me to say that,” she said, adding that her department favours a public health approach that involves educating people to help them make “the best decision for their health.”

Cynthia Callard, the executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, said it’s no surprise the major tobacco companies want to allow sales in retail stores.

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“There was a day when people who smoked cigarettes smoked nothing but cigarettes. That was the way they got their nicotine. And now we have what the industry defines as a poly-market, where people use different products at different times of the day,” she said.

Callard called on the government to resist lobbying efforts and said the country needs a nicotine strategy that addresses the use of vapes and pouches and includes meaningful enforcement of illicit sales.