The regulations restrict the content, flavour, packaging, advertising and sale of vapour products in British Columbia.
B.C.'s ministries of Health and Education will also establish a provincial youth advisory council to develop, pilot and launch youth-informed strategies to reduce vaping by young people.
"We heard from young people across the province that vaping companies are targeting them with a product that poses real and serious health and addiction risks," said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. "That's why we are bringing in regulations to keep vapour products away from developing lungs and to prevent nicotine addiction. We know youth are eager to get involved in this action, and I've seen promising work through early youth engagement to help influence their peers and stop this dangerous trend of addiction."
The new E-Substances Regulation, under the Public Health Act, restricts the amount of nicotine in vapour pods and liquid to 20mg/ml, and requires retailers to sell only those vapour products that are plainly packaged and have labels with health warnings. New retailers planning to sell vape products will need to comply with the regulation immediately. Existing vapour-product retailers will have a short transition period until Sept. 15, 2020.
The regulation immediately prohibits all retailers from selling non-nicotine or nicotine-cannabis blended vapour products.
Changes to the Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Regulation ban advertising of vapour products in places where youth can access, hear or see advertisements, such as bus shelters or community parks. They also restrict the sale of flavoured vapour products, which are attractive to youth, to adult-only shops.
The provincial youth advisory council will launch in September 2020, through a partnership between the ministries of Education and Health. The council will be established next month and will also monitor and evaluate the overall impact of the plan.
"Schools are the perfect place to talk with young people about the negative effects vaping can have on their health and development, so they have the knowledge they need to make decisions about the use of nicotine and tobacco," said Rob Fleming, Minister of Education. "That's why we worked with students and health experts to find the best ways to reach British Columbia's youth and their families for a campaign that will go a long way in promoting healthy choices for kids."
Other non-regulatory action under the Province's vaping action plan, includes a youth-led anti-vaping social media campaign to de-normalize vaping. Youth throughout B.C. were engaged through regional youth advisory tables, to provide guidance for the "evaporate" campaign. Launched in February 2020, the campaign has so far garnered over 27 million digital impressions.
With provincial support, last year the BC Lung Association created and distributed a youth vaping prevention toolkit to all K-12 schools in British Columbia. The toolkit provides information for educators, parents and youth to use when having discussions and making choices about vaping.
The Province is also providing support to vapers who want help to quit through the quit-smoking service, QuitNow. QuitNow has been updated to include new quit-vaping information resources for youth and provides coaching by phone or text.
The action plan required the Province to implement increased sales tax, which was implemented on Jan. 1, 2020.
B.C.'s youth vaping action plan is the most comprehensive plan in Canada to address vaping by youth. It focuses on stopping youth vaping, while ensuring vaping can still be used as a harm reduction tool by adults.