The Tobacco Industry Is Still After Our Kids

For decades, tobacco companies have built their business model on addiction. As millions of Canadians quit smoking and smoking rates declined, the industry faced a new problem: where would the next generation of customers come from?

Today, the answer is increasingly clear.

While the products may look different, the strategy remains familiar. Vapes, nicotine pouches, and other nicotine products are being promoted in ways that appeal to young people through attractive flavours, sleek designs, social media trends, and marketing that normalizes nicotine use. The goal may not always be stated openly, but the outcome is the same: creating a new generation dependent on nicotine.

Youth are not the target by accident. The younger someone starts using nicotine, the more likely they are to become addicted. Nicotine changes the developing brain, affecting attention, learning, memory, and mood. Once addiction takes hold, many young people struggle to quit.

The tobacco industry has a long history of denying the harms of its products while targeting youth. We cannot afford to ignore the warning signs simply because the products have evolved. Whether nicotine comes in a cigarette, a vape, or a pouch, addiction remains addiction.

That is why youth vaping prevention matters.

Young people deserve to grow up free from the influence of an industry that profits when they become lifelong customers. They deserve honest information about the risks of nicotine, not marketing campaigns disguised as lifestyle choices. They deserve schools and communities that support healthy decision-making rather than normalize addiction.

Governments, educators, parents, and health organizations all have a role to play. Strong regulations on marketing, flavour restrictions, age-verification enforcement, public education campaigns, and ongoing research are essential to protecting young people from nicotine addiction.

At LungNSPEI, we believe that preventing youth nicotine addiction is one of the most important public health challenges of our time. Through awareness campaigns, school presentations, advocacy efforts, and our Youth Vaping Survey, we are working to better understand youth perspectives and empower young people with the information they need to make informed choices.

The tobacco industry is counting on the next generation to sustain its profits.

We should be fighting for a smoke-free, vape-free, nicotine-free generation instead.

The choices we make today will determine whether young people inherit a future shaped by addiction, or one defined by health, opportunity, and freedom.