Despite the harm, young people are using nicotine pouches. Experts say it’s giving them déjà vu/Malgré les risques, les jeunes utilisent des sachets de nicotine. Les experts parlent d’un sentiment de déjà vu.

By Isabelle Gallant, with comments by Dr. Nicholas Chadi, CBC News, March 30, 2024

They come in brightly-coloured tins with flavours like tropic breeze and berry frost, and in most of the country, they’re sold at convenience stores. If you don’t look closely, you might mistake them for gum or candy. 

Nicotine pouches, under the brand Zonnic, are the latest nicotine product to be approved for sale in Canada. Earlier in March, Health Minister Mark Holland vowed to crack down on their sale to young people. 

Despite the product’s claim that it’s a nicotine replacement therapy and not intended for those under 18, experts say youth are fast becoming their main market — and that raises troubling questions about how young people’s health could be affected.

Health Canada approved Zonnic last July as a smoking cessation aid under the country’s natural health product regulations, with no restrictions on how it’s advertised, where it’s sold, or at what age someone can buy it. […]

Zonnic pouches — small bags filled with nicotine powder that users place against their gums — contain up to four milligrams of nicotine. 

They’re often sold 10 to a package, which is roughly the amount of nicotine in a pack of cigarettes, Dr. Nicholas Chadi told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC’s The Dose. (Read full story here).

Also: Listen to March 28, 2024, episode of CBC podcast, The Dose on recreational nicotine products with Dr. Brian Goldman. (Listen here)