Nova Scotia Vaping Regulations

Nova Scotia was our nation’s true pioneer when it comes to legislating e-cigarettes, having introduced its province-wide framework in 2014, the Tobacco Access Act. The industry successfully managed to lobby the government, in order to remove certain sections preventing the sale of e-liquid and e-juice, restrictions that could have significantly hindered their profit margins.

In November 2019 the results of the Smoke-Free Nova Scotia survey showed that 95 per cent of youth in the province who vape said they prefer flavoured juices, and over 48 per cent said they would quit if flavours were banned.

Largely in response to this, Nova Scotia became the first province to announce a full ban on the sales of flavoured vaping products, which comes into effect on April 1, 2020.

The government has also stated it plans to introduce legislation specific to vaping in spring 2020, but few other details were given. It is anticipated given the lobby of anti-tobacco groups as well as what other provinces are doing, that Nova Scotia could potentially look at raising the legal age to purchase vaping products to 21, capping nicotine content, and addressing advertising.