Advocates call on Ottawa to limit nicotine use among youth, demand stricter measures

A person exhales a cloud of vapour in a photo illustration made in the Financial District of Toronto, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.

OTTAWA — Several health organizations are urging the federal government to bring down nicotine use among Canadians to less than five per cent of the population by 2045, as vaping among youth rises.

Les Hagen, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, says nicotine use has grown exponentially among Canadians aged 25 and under, which he says is a “huge concern.”

Hagen said several published systematic reviews have shown that vaping creates a nicotine pathway in the brain -- making them addicted to the substance, which makes youth more susceptible to starting smoking cigarettes.

“If that can’t be satisfied by nicotine products like vaping products, they will find other ways to satisfy those cravings, including smoking.”

A Statistics Canada report published last year shows 15 per cent of students in grades 7 to 12 reported vaping in the past 30 days in a 2023-2024 survey. That jumps to 27 per cent of Grade 12 students, who say they used a vape over a 30-day period.

The rate of vaping among 12th graders far outpaces the overall national consumption levels. A 2022 Statistics Canada report found 18.2 per cent of Canadians aged 15 years and older had ever vaped.

“That is stunningly high,” said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society.

There are several reasons why vaping has been concentrated among youth, Cunningham said. It’s less expensive than cigarettes and is available in many flavours in most provinces -- an important factor why vaping is popular among youth.

Unlike cigarettes, vapes don’t come with graphic pictures and health warnings on their packaging, while social media influencers often promote them, he said.

“(Vapes) have a much higher level of social acceptability compared to cigarettes and there’s a certain coolness associated with them,” he added.

Michael Chaiton, associate professor at the University of Toronto, said while the full impacts of vaping on health aren’t known yet, it’s still harmful.

“E-cigarettes on their own are associated with risk,” he said, especially when it comes to respiratory and cardiovascular issues.

The consensus among health organizations to reduce nicotine consumption came from a two-day roundtable on reducing tobacco and nicotine use in Canada held ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Sunday. That’s in addition to the existing national target set in 2016 to reduce the overall tobacco use rate to less than five per cent by 2035, which was later formally adopted by Health Canada.

“Canada is actually making good progress toward reducing tobacco use,” Hagen said. “We’re actually trending toward less than five per cent by 2035.”

Hagen says five million fewer Canadians are consuming tobacco today, compared to the levels 26 years ago, which he says is extremely good news.

However, he demanded stricter measures against vaping products, such as flavour restrictions, more health warnings on packaging and a ban on online sales. Higher taxes on nicotine products and extending smoking restrictions to vaping can also help deter nicotine consumption, he said.

“We need better alignment between our highly effective regulations on tobacco with our totally inadequate regulations on vaping products,” Hagen said.

Health Canada says vaping products can help people quit smoking, and switching completely to vaping is less harmful than continuing to smoke. But it also says that no vaping products have been approved as cessation aids and vaping is “not harmless and not intended for young people.”

It says children and teens are “especially susceptible” to the harmful effects of nicotine, because brain development continues through adolescence and into early adulthood.

Cunningham said the goal to curb nicotine consumption among youth is achievable, though difficult.

“It is a challenge because the rates of youth and young adult vaping and nicotine pouch use are much higher than adults as a whole,” he said.

“It all depends on how quickly and how extensively governments implement measures.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2026.