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B.C. tightens vaping rules to lessen appeal to youth

KamloopsMatters Staff
teen-vaping
Vaping rules are tightening in B.C. (via Shutterstock)

British Columbia has introduced new rules around vaping products in an effort to curb teen vaping.

New regulations announced today (Nov. 14) will restrict the amount of nicotine in vapour pods and liquids to 20mg/ml and will require plain packaging for vapour products that include health warnings.

"Public advertising of vapour products will also be restricted in areas where youth spend time, such as bus shelters or community parks," reads a news release. "The sale of vapour flavours, other than tobacco flavours, will only be allowed in age-restricted shops."

The new rules will take effect spring 2020, following stakeholder engagement.

The B.C. government also plans to increase the PST rate applied to vaping products to 20 per cent (it's currently 7 per cent). Legislation on this will be introduced later this month. The new tax rate would start Jan. 1, 2020. 

The legislation would also include increasing the tobacco tax rate by two cents. Effective Jan. 1, 2020, the tax applied would be 29.5 cents per cigarette and 39.5 cents per gram of loose tobacco. Nicotine gum, patches and similar smoking cessation products would continue to be exempt from the provincial sales tax.

The regulations will be supported by a youth-led, anti-vaping social media campaign, notes the release.

The province has also partnered with the BC Lung Association to work with youth to build a vaping prevention toolkit that has been piloted in some schools. 

"This initiative will begin expanding immediately to schools across the province," states the release. QuitNow, the government's quit-smoking resource, will also be updated to include new "quit vaping" resources for youth.

The BC School Trustees Association asked the government for help, saying many districts in B.C. are spending too much time monitoring and addressing the problem of vaping in schools.

Health Canada said last week that the province may now have three possible vaping-related illnesses and the provincial health officer said the number was likely to rise as more of the illnesses were reported and investigated.

Health Canada has issued a warning to people who vape to monitor themselves for symptoms of vaping-related pulmonary illness following hundreds of such cases in the United States and a few in Canada.

Todd Stone, Liberal MLA for Kamloops-South Thompson, introduced a private member's bill targeting teen vaping in April. 

He tells KamloopsMatters he's "very pleased" with today's announcement, and called the NDP's plan "ambitious."

Part of Stone's bill included banning flavoured vapour products; though that won't happen, he says the current government is "heading down the right path."

When asked about the increased PST, Stone says he'll be making "darn sure" the extra tax dollars being collected will go toward prevention and awareness programs in schools.

"This entire action plan will fail at curbing youth vaping if we don’t get the education component right," he says. "I want to make sure that there's actually going to be funding put toward in-school programs that are led by youth, delivered by youth, where...it's not just a single presentation. It's a program that has a curriculum and that has follow-up."

The local MLA adds enforcement will also be key to the new rules being effective.

"This issue rises way above partisan politics. I'm going to continue to constructively and proactively advocate for the health and well-being of our kids," says Stone. "We will do everything to hold the government accountable."

— with files from The Canadian Press

Editor's note: This story was updated at 12 p.m. with comments from Todd Stone.