HALIFAX—Nova Scotia is adding to its crackdown on vaping by pre-emptively banning the sale of flavoured cannabis vape products.

The products aren’t on the legal market yet, but the province says new regulations will prohibit the sale of any cannabis vape products with synthetic scents or flavours. Manufacturers and sellers will also be barred from using packaging or labelling that mentions a flavour other than cannabis.

The government announcement — issued in a Friday afternoon news release — is the second in as many days addressing growing concerns about health risks associated with vaping and the spike in popularity among youth.

Nova Scotia’s Finance and Treasury Board Minister Karen Casey said the popularity of flavoured vaping products among youth drove the latest regulatory change.

“Given the increasing amount of vape-related illness in Canada and the U.S., and the negative effects cannabis can have on youth, we need to do everything we can to make sure these products do not appeal to younger Nova Scotians,” she said.

Provincial Health Minister Randy Delorey announced Thursday that all flavoured e-cigarettes and vape pods would be banned by Apr. 1, 2020 — also citing a desire to curb youth vaping.

The ban on flavoured cannabis vape products will come into effect by the end of the year, just as the products will become available for legal sale in Canada.

On Oct. 17 — one year after Ottawa’s first phase of cannabis legalization — cannabis edibles, extracts and topicals became legal. But they are subject to a 60-day hold and notice period by Health Canada.

All of Nova Scotia’s legal recreational cannabis sales flow through the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) and spokesperson Beverly Ware said the Crown corporation can’t legally place any orders on the new products until Dec. 16, leaving “plenty of time” to take the new ban into account.

“We respect and we are aligned with the government’s decision and we are going to adjust our product assortment accordingly,” Ware said in an interview.

Regardless of the ban, Ware said the NSLC’s initial assortment of cannabis derivatives will likely be “very limited.”

But, she added, “we do expect to carry cannabis vape products that don’t have any synthetic or artificial flavouring that could appeal to youth.”

Nova Scotia isn’t going as far as Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec, where all cannabis vaping products will be banned.

The American Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been watching an outbreak of vaping-related illness since the spring, with more than 2,000 cases now recorded and almost 50 deaths.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Canada has yet to see the same volume of vaping related illness — 13 cases and no deaths — but health officials are monitoring for outbreak and warning of the potential health risks.

The CDC identified vitamin E acetate — a common thickening agent in cannabis vape products — as a “chemical of concern” in the American outbreak of vaping-related illness and has since recommended against vaping cannabis, at all.

Read more about: