Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, said she and representatives from a number of anti-smoking organizations met this week with a senior staff member for Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks.
“We left the meeting with the firm belief that we are not going to see a ban on vaping flavours this year,” she said. “We are greatly disappointed.”
Callard said the official gave a range of logistical reasons for why the restrictions weren’t going ahead — including the limited time left to enact them as the Liberal government stares down a potential spring election.
Vapers like myself who use refillable RTAs/RTDs are already taxed up the ass for juice. I purchase from bargain e juice where a 120 ml bottle is about $25, and provincial/federal excise taxes are around $35. So for a bottle that 10 years ago I could purchase for $15-18, I now pay $60.
Fuck taxing us more.
I get why you’re frustrated about the taxes, but let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture. My message to increase taxes on smokers and vapers isn’t about punishing people for their choices, it’s about offsetting the huge costs that smoking and vaping put on the healthcare system and society as a whole.
You’re already paying a pretty penny in taxes on your e-juice, but the reality is that the healthcare costs associated with smoking and vaping are way higher than what’s being brought in through taxes. We’re talking $6 billion dollars each year to treat smoking-related illnesses (https://www.lung.ca/cla-commends-canadian-government’s-step-toward-tobacco-industry-accountability). Let’s be real, the tax revenue from vaping products isn’t necessarily being used to address the health concerns associated with vaping.
Rather than just opposing increased taxes, maybe it’s worth thinking about how we can make the tax system more fair. Could we structure taxes to encourage people to use safer products, like your refillable RTAs/RTDs, over more hazardous ones. The goal here is to promote public health and reduce the costs associated with smoking and vaping.
Smoking saves money for the healthcare system in the long run. When all costs are included the research supports the idea that people who smoke tend to die more quickly and inexpensively than those who don’t. There are obviously some very good reasons to be opposed to tobacco use but that isn’t one of them.
The health disadvantages of vaping on the other hand are small enough that (so far) they don’t make any detectable difference to healthcare costs. It’s probably not good for you but it’s nothing like smoking. So long as substantial numbers of people are smoking, the way to save lives is to encourage them to switch to nicotine vapes as a first step. It is by far the most effective tool to help people quit.