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Health Canada begins to balance public communications around vaping.

  Health Canada begins to balance public communications around vaping. As I write this it is Wednesday, January 18 th , the middle of “National Non-Smoking Week”. I was pleased to see a change in Health Canada’s communications this year. Vaping is referenced as a reduced-risk option for smokers in a Statement from Health Canada on behalf of the Minister of Health, along with the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health. Vaping has also been added to the Quit Planner, an online tool provided by Health Canada to assist smokers in their efforts to stop using combustion-based nicotine products. From the Health Canada Statement published on January 16 th , 2023: “Moreover, evidence suggests that while vaping products are not harmless, vaping exposes people who smoke to lower levels of harmful chemicals than continuing to smoke.” This might not seem like a strong statement. The scientific evidence would certainly support stronger wording, as has been
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I was asked a question. Here is my answer (and thensome)

  A letter is printed in a newspaper. The author shares it on Twitter. I comment. Author responds. I reply. A question gets asked: "Alberta is the only province that does not regulate vaping. Why?" ... and here we are. Now I can't speak for the government, but there are several plausible reasons why the revisions to the TOBACCO AND SMOKING REDUCTION ACT, Statutes of Alberta, 2005, Chapter T-38 have not yet been proclaimed. How plausible varies. Some would be pretty glaring, some not so much. 1) Generally, Albertans are perceived as "independent", "personal rights" focussed, "Don't tread on me" types.   I offer this as neither an accolade nor an admonishment. It's a generalization. It's a stereotype. It also has a grain of truth to it.  Decades of "right" leaning governance. Home of such quotes as "Shoot, shovel, shut up" as a public statement from a premier in response to an issue with bovine spongiform encepha
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Spoken presentation - Draft. Meeting with parliamentary representative on Thursday June 3rd.

  Stats: Alberta had an 18.9% smoking prevalence rate (Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Survey – CTADS, 2017). Sturgeon River-Parkland has a population (2016) of 120,784 people. Statistically, roughly 22,828 Sturgeon River-Parkland residents smoked tobacco in 2017. Morinville had a population (2016) of 9848 people. Statistically,   1,861 Morinville residents smoked tobacco in 2017   I have two retail locations in your riding (Morinville est. 2016, St. Albert est. 2018); however, I will speak primarily to the Morinville location as the statistical analysis is easier to discern due to fewer confounding factors. ---- My business, Alternatives & Options Vapourizers and E-liquids Ltd . opened its doors in Morinville in February of 2016. Currently, that location serves 250 customers a week, the vast majority of whom are former smokers. This consumer count is the equivalent of 13.4% of Morinville's statistical smoking population from 2017. The 2019 Canadian
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Going down the taxation rabbit hole. (In Canada)

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"You are going to make vaping more expensive than smoking" That's pretty much the knee-jerk howl that comes out every time taxation gets brought up. Now I could go on about whether the product should be taxed at all, or my opinions on taxation based on relative risk, but frankly, no one would give a shiny wooden nickel for those thoughts. So let's explore comparative pricing and determine at what point smoking "likely" becomes cheaper than vaping. Trust me, that's going to be muddy enough, with plenty of assumptions, rounding errors, and confounders. This blog will drive Carl V. Phillips around the bend. However, it will give the average vape shop owner a rough idea of where the comparative price points are between the two disparate products. It will also give them an idea of how much a tax would cut into that "competitive pricing" freeboard. "How many cigarettes are in a bottle of e-liquid?" None, but that doesn't mean we can'
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Submission to Health Canada regarding proposed regulation to restrict nicotine content in vaping products.

Response to Minister Patty Hajdu and the Department of Health regarding Concentration of Nicotine in Vaping Products Regulations as proposed and published in the Canada Gazette Part 1, Vol. 154, No. 54 , Pages 4192 – 4235. In May of 2019, when you asked for my opinion on the future of regulation for vapour products, I provided you with 30 pages of it. There were multiple citations and links to academic studies and data. I don’t base my thoughts on what I feel. I formulate my opinions on what I read and how what I read is reflected in my experience. I put a lot of time into that submission.   I see that I accomplished nothing;  in reading these proposed regulations (2 pages) and the RIAS (42 pages). I Disagree with the regulations as proposed.   I Disagree with the proposed 15 days “coming into force” period on page 4203 . This time frame does not align with trade conventions . 15 days does not give me enough time to sell through the existing inventory on hand. I am still
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Puff Bars

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I get anywhere from 10 to 20 phone calls a week and 2 to 4 walk-ins asking for Puff Bars .  "Do you carry Puff Bars?" "Do you sell those 800 puff bars?" "Do you have those puff things?" "Hey, I was wondering, do you have..." No. No, I do not. Nor do I intend to in the foreseeable future. Do I think they should have a place within the vaping industry? Perhaps.  I can see a small, limited scope usage case where a skeptical adult smoker might see the appeal in using one, as a proof of concept, or perhaps a concerned family member may want to provide one to an inveterate smoker for the same reason. And if I truly believed as many as 10% of the enquiries I have fielded were from skeptical smokers or concerned family members, I would give consideration to carrying a single-use disposable nicotine delivery system. Most days, my emotional response is to wonder if 10% of those fielded phone calls involved persons who have reached the age of access. If I&#
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GAKYBM Chapter 2: Promoting Tools as Toys.

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Go away, kid. You bother me. A Canadian vape shop owner's opinions and observations of an industry in its infancy. Chapter 2 Promoting Tools as Toys In the very early days, the promotion of vaping products was primarily done by word of mouth and personal demonstration in smoking areas across Canada. This wasn't paid advertisement for a specific brand or shop. This was the organic conversation that occurred when a person walked into a group of smokers and proceeded to not have a cigarette. The very act of pulling out what looked like a pen and puffing on it and exhaling what looked like cigarette smoke but smelled very different would almost immediately start a conversation full of questions. "What is that?" "How does it work?" "You don't smoke cigarettes  anymore?" "Does it feel like smoking?" "Do you feel better now?" "How much did it cost?" "Where did you get it?" "Does it always smell that good?&
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