Ottawa to reveal details of nicotine pouch crackdown in ‘coming days’: Minister

Last November, Mark Holland vowed to close the regulatory "loophole" allowing the flavoured nicotine pouches to be sold in convenience stores across the country.

Less than a week after B.C. restricted the sale of flavoured “nicotine pouches” in a bid to keep them away from kids, the federal government has confirmed its own action on the oral pouch products is coming soon.

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland said Monday the details of that announcement will be released “in the coming days.” He credited B.C. for its leadership on the products, which are new to the Canadian market.

“I think it’s entirely appropriate that these products be moved behind counter,” Holland said at an unrelated funding announcement in Vancouver.

“What we don’t want to see happen is frankly what with saw with vaping, where we had a whole new cohort of young people becoming addicted to nicotine, who weren’t smokers, and were using this as a new delivery mechanism for nicotine.”

Last week, B.C. introduced regulations that put all buccal nicotine pouch products behind the counter at pharmacies. While no prescription is required to access them, it means they’re no longer easily accessible on shelves at convenience stores, gas stations and other locations where tobacco products are sold within the province.

The products, which contain no tobacco, are approved by Health Canada and are currently sold without advertising restrictions in convenience stores elsewhere across the country.

Last November, Holland vowed to close the regulatory “loophole” allowing that, stating he felt “duped” into believing the pouches would be marketed purely as a smoking cessation tool.

“It would seem that their intention is to addict new young people to nicotine, which is disgusting,” Holland said at the time, referencing some of the pouches’ flavours, without mentioning a specific company.