B.C. has long prided itself on being a leader in public health and tobacco control. But confidence in past success has led the province to lower its guard, and today, Big Tobacco has quietly slipped back in with a clever disguise. On the surface, things look promising. Smoking rates are declining, reinforcing the perception that we are moving in the right direction. However, beneath that progress, something else is happening.
The Hidden Crisis
More young people in B.C. are vaping, and nicotine is making a comeback in a new form. Walk past a group of teenagers today, and you are more likely to smell mango or cotton candy than tobacco smoke. The addiction has not disappeared; it has been repackaged. Policymakers have not kept up. Nicotine remains one of the most addictive substances known. Health Canada warns that it can affect a young person's brain development, including memory, attention, and mood. Immediate health concerns include lung irritation and heart effects, and long-term impacts remain unknown.
Alarming Statistics
This is not a small issue. Across Canada, nearly one in three youth aged 15 to 19 has tried vaping, and 15 percent of youth in Grades 7 to 12 currently vape regularly. In B.C., 42 percent of youth have tried vaping, and 27 percent used it in the past month. A vast majority of B.C. youth aged 16 to 18 who vape still use fruit-flavored products. These flavors are not incidental; they make it easier to start and harder to stop.
Unmasking the Appeal
This year's World No Tobacco Day, led by the World Health Organization, focuses on “Unmasking the Appeal: Countering Nicotine and Tobacco Addiction.” The idea of unmasking matters because what young people see today does not look dangerous. It is packaged as fun, flavored, and harmless. But that is not the full story. Flavors are a major reason young people start vaping.
What Can B.C. Do?
Legislators can begin by modernizing the province's tobacco-control approach, which is more than 20 years old. Existing policies do not add up to a coordinated response, and nicotine markets are evolving faster than public health measures. For example, B.C. did not ban flavored nicotine products; it relocated them. Most flavors disappeared from convenience stores but remain widely available in adult-only vape shops. This may reduce visibility, but it does not remove appeal or access, given that a large portion of youth still report using flavored vape products.
Other provinces have gone further. Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island have banned most non-tobacco flavors. B.C. chose a middle path, and the results suggest it is not working. If B.C. truly wants to protect young people, it must respond with greater urgency and clarity. That means a modern nicotine plan that addresses vaping and smoking together, focuses on prevention, supports people trying to quit, and keeps pace with rapidly changing products.
