Cancer society says Sask. should view all cigarettes the same

The Canadian Cancer Society says e-cigarettes should be treated like regular cigarettes.

The owner of several e-cigarette stores in Saskatchewan, Chris LaFonte, wants to help design regulations around vaping in Saskatchewan. He said he wants to make sure they won’t be as harsh as regulations in some others areas.

Rob Cunningham is the senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society.

Both LaFonte and Cunningham agree there should be regulations, and that minors shouldn’t be able to buy e-cigarettes. But where they disagree is where vaping should be allowed.

LaFonte wants it to be up to owners of adult establishments, like bars, whether to allow e-cigarettes. Cunningham said the use of e-cigarettes should be banned from the same place regular cigarettes are.

“There’s a lot of young people (in bars), a lot of people have alcohol and it can reduce your inhibitions, it can mean an opportunity for a relapse. And let’s face it, a lot of kids get into bars, even though they’re under age,” said Cunningham.

Cunningham said keeping both kinds of smoking out of public is good because the vapour from e-cigarettes isn’t just steam.

“It’s less harmful than second-hand smoke, but there are some harmful substances on that and we don’t yet know the long-term effects on that, especially if it’s daily exposure.”

He also said that smoke-free public places are a good motivation to quit smoking.

“We want to ensure that Saskatchewan brings forward effective legislation, and we don’t want weak legislation.”

LSchick@rawlco.com
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