Imperial Tobacco Canada - Prevention of youth access
We believe that underage people should not consume tobacco and vapour products.
Imperial Tobacco Canada has publicly and strongly stated many times that youth should not use nicotine products. Like cannabis and alcohol, nicotine should only be consumed by adults. Imperial Tobacco Canada is deeply committed to this, and we do everything in our power to prevent youth access.
In fact, we have retailer education programs to ensure that those at the front lines of youth access prevention are appropriately trained and supported. We also make sure that prevention information materials are available at point of sale. In addition, as part of our trade term and conditions, if a retailer is caught selling to minors, we will block their ability to order all of our tobacco and nicotine products. This measure is non-negotiable with all our business partners.
We abide by all regulations as well as our own marketing standards that go beyond what is required by the law. In fact, with our latest product, the nicotine replacement therapy product ZONNIC, we have gone above and beyond what our Health Canada product license requires.
All these youth access prevention measures aim to keep nicotine products out of the hands of youth, which is our top priority. The real problem is that illicit tobacco and nicotine products are easily accessible to anyone in Canada. These sellers do not respect the laws and regulations in place and do not care about asking for proof-of-age. This is why we believe that enforcement and penalties for breaking such laws must be tough enough to discourage anybody from selling to people who are underage.