Arguments heard on bid to have ban on flavoured vape products suspended
Judge to rule Thursday on motion from smokers, store owners who want N.B. ban repealed
A judge heard arguments Tuesday on a motion filed by vape store owners and former smokers that would suspend a New Brunswick ban on the sale of flavoured vaping products.
The six plaintiffs want the legislation, which will also require licensing of vaping stores, suspended until their lawsuit challenging it is heard.
The former smokers said in an affidavit quoted by their lawyer that they were only able to quit their tobacco habit with the help of flavoured e-cigarettes, and that without them, they feared they would slip back into the habit.
"Banning flavoured vape products will cause people to vape as a means of fighting their addiction," lawyer Mel Norton told the Court of Queen's Bench in Burton, outside Fredericton.
The provincial legislature passed a bill last June banning flavoured e-cigarettes, and the restrictions came into effect in September under the Tobacco and Electronic Cigarette Sales Act.
It was largely an effort to reduce the number of young people who were vaping.
The province's lawyer, Rose Campbell, said there is no evidence of ill-effects related to not having flavoured e-cigarettes available.
"There's no evidence eight months into this flavour ban … no evidence that they have actually been forced to return to smoking," she said.
Rob Cunningham, a lawyer for the Canadian Cancer Society, said the restrictions should remain because the rate of young people vaping nationally has steadily increased.
"We've seen youth vaping triple over a four-year period, going from nine per cent to 29 per cent among high school students in grades 10 to 12," he said.
New Brunswick's numbers are even higher at 39 per cent.
Plain vapes still for sale
Campbell said that if the flavour ban is repealed, the number of young people getting involved in vaping will likely increase.
Plain vapes are still allowed and used as a smoking cessation tool, she said.
The plaintiffs' lawyers also said the removal of the products has led to a loss of revenue for store owners.
The legislation includes a licensing requirement for specialty store owners that will come into effect at the beginning of April, unless stalled by the motion.
Justice Terrence Morrison said he would deliver his decision on Thursday.