THAT Council for the Municipality of East Ferris supports the resolution from the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit regarding restricting youth access to nicotine pouches and urges the Ontario government to take immediate steps to restrict youth access to these products by amending provincial regulation to require that nicotine pouches, like Zonnic, be only available for purchase at pharmacies and kept behind the counter;
AND FURTHER THAT until the regulatory gap is closed the Municipality of East Ferris urges the federal government to take immediate steps to restrict youth access to these products by:
Suspending the sale of nicotine pouches, or reclassifying nicotine pouches (including flavored pouches) as a prescription product available only behind the counter at pharmacies; and
Establishing a temporary moratorium of approval of any more nicotine pouch products, or any new category of nicotine products, under the Natural Health Product Regulations, unless the products are sold on a prescription basis;
AND FURTHER THAT a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, Ontario Minister of Health, Sylvie Jones, and MPP Vic Fedeli.