May 7th, 2025

KEY POINTS

• Vapour products are at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes.
• Safer nicotine products should be sold in the same places as cigarettes.
• Safer nicotine products should not be more expensive than cigarettes.
• Nicotine pouches licenced for smoking cessation should be available for sale in
  convenience stores.
• Flavours help adults switch from smoking to vapour products.
• Safer nicotine products should be regulated under a new framework, not alongside cigarettes.

Dear Mr./Ms. [LAST NAME],

Congratulations on winning a seat in our House of Commons. It is a privilege and an enormous responsibility to represent Canadians in Ottawa.

I am writing to provide you with an overview of an issue that I am passionate about: safer nicotine products, which includes vapour products and nicotine pouches. My goal is to ensure that these products remain accessible, available and affordable to adult Canadians who smoke and who are looking for an alternative to the deadly cigarette.

Rights4Vapers, Canada’s largest vapers rights and safer nicotine movement, has been working for years to educate and empower Canadians who vape to speak out for the products that have saved their lives and improved their health. For too long, Canadians who use vapour products or other safer nicotine products have lived in fear that the very tools we use to stay smoke free will be regulated out of the market or be taxed so that they are more expensive than cigarettes.

Thankfully, there is still a range of vapour products available to Canadians who smoke. Health Canada has done a good job of understanding the harm reduction potential of vapour products. On its website, Health Canada says: “If you are an adult that currently smokes, switching completely to vaping is a less harmful option than continuing to smoke.”

Despite this, we see provincial governments taking knee-jerk regulatory actions. A case in point is Quebec where its ban on flavoured vapour products has done nothing to reduce youth vaping rates and only succeeded in pushing the entire market underground.

The federal government has made some mistakes. In August 2024, the former Minister of Health restricted the sale of smoking cessation nicotine pouches to pharmacies. This was a short-sighted decision based entirely on personal ideology. Today, any Canadian adult can purchase cigarettes at every corner store; however, they must go to a pharmacy and be subject to a barrage of questions before being allowed to purchase a product that could help them quit. It does not make any logical sense.

Canada could be among global leaders in embracing these products. Canada could be educating those who smoke about tobacco harm reduction and the relative risks of different nicotine products. Canada could achieve its goal of reducing smoking rates to less than five percent by 2035. However, on its current path we do not see this happening.

I hope that you take the time to understand this important issue. I would be happy to provide you with more information. Safer nicotine products may not make the same headlines as the economy or tariffs; however, I would argue that if we get it right our health care costs would drop dramatically, and we would save lives.

Yours sincerely,

Maria Papaioannoy

Rights4Vapers

P.S. Rights4Vapers will be in Ottawa on May 28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. We will be setting up an information booth across from Parliament Hill at 90 Wellington Street. Come and ask us any questions that you have.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• For lots more information on vaping and tobacco harm reduction, you can visit our website: www.rights4vapers.com
• We prepared a document that details the 10 Myths and Facts about Vaping in 2021.
  The information is still relevant today.
• Follow us on X for our latest news and events: @rights4vapers

TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION

Science Review

It is one thing to say that vapour products and other safer nicotine products are less harmful than cigarettes; it is another to read what reputable public health organizations the world over say about it.  These studies collectively suggest that while e-cigarettes are not without risks, they are significantly less harmful than traditional combustible cigarettes and can serve as a tool for harm reduction and smoking cessation.

Royal College of Physicians (RCP) – E-Cigarettes and Harm Reduction: An Evidence Review (2024)
The RCP, a leading UK medical body, concluded that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than smoking and can serve as effective tools for smoking cessation.

Cochrane – Cochrane Systematic Review (2022)
This review finds high certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes are more effective than traditional nicotine-replacement therapy (NRT) in helping people quit smoking

Tobacco & Nicotine Research – Smoking Cessation Trends (2024)
A study published in this journal found that e-cigarette users had higher smoking cessation rates compared to non-users over several years, suggesting that vaping may aid in quitting smoking.

King’s College London – Comprehensive Review (2022)
This extensive review, commissioned by the UK Department of Health, concluded that vaping poses a small fraction of the health risks associated with smoking. It found that switching to e-cigarettes significantly reduces exposure to toxicants linked to cancer, lung disease, and cardiovascular conditions.

American Heart Association – Vaping Versus Smoking: Are Electronic-Cigarettes the Savior? (2024)
This article indicates that e-cigarette aerosols may be less harmful to the vascular endothelium than conventional tobacco smoke.