Cigarettes may be enjoying a cultural renaissance, but the kids these days have found a new nicotine fix.
Driving the news: A new study found that 8.5% of Canadians in their 20s are now using nicotine pouches, a more than 10-fold increase from 2023. Over the same span, the share of young people who have tried a nicotine pouch has more than tripled to 34.8%.
The research, conducted by the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, found that the majority of pouch users weren’t smokers before.
Catch-up: Nicotine pouches are a more subtle, smoke-free version of chewing tobacco that users tuck between their lip and gum. An army of so-called Zyn-fluencers online has aggressively marketed the pouches to young men, many of whom have been sold on the (unsubstantiated) promise that they can give you a boost of focus at work or the gym.
In 2024, Health Canada changed its regulations to ban the sale of Zonnic (the only pouch approved in Canada) outside of pharmacies, as well as limiting flavours to mint and menthol.
Why it matters: These pouches have become a new generation’s cigarettes. Ten times as many young people are regularly using them than just a few years ago, and Ottawa’s attempts to limit their sales to pharmacies haven’t been very effective.
A CBC News investigation last year found outlawed, high-dosage nicotine pouches readily available in corner stores across the country.
Anecdotally, this writer was able to find pouches at three Toronto convenience stores within a few blocks of each other (the stores will remain anonymous, as the owners all seemed like very nice people).
Bottom line: After years of falling smoking rates, researchers say nicotine usage in Canada is no longer in decline. Despite tobacco companies' insistence that pouches are simply helping smokers quit, it’s clear that they’re also introducing a whole new cohort of young non-smokers to nicotine.—LA
