Ontario bans flavoured tobacco and restricts e-cig sales

Smoking restrictions in Ontario are getting tighter than ever. New legislation will ban the sale of flavoured tobacco -- including menthol cigarettes -- throughout the province, while the smoking of e-cigarettes will be forbidden in all those places regular tobacco is restricted (e.g. restaurants, bars, parks, etc.). The sale of e-cigarettes will also be prohibited to those under the age of 19.

Should the bill pass, the age restriction on e-cigarette sales would go into place on January 1st, 2016, followed a year later by the ban on vaping in public. The flavoured tobacco ban, on the other hand, won't go into effect for two years. Today's legislation follows a recent ban on patio-smoking in Ontario that takes effect January 1st, 2015.

The ban on e-cigarette smoking might be the most controversial of these proposed laws given that vaping doesn't transmit second hand smoke. What do you think? Are stricter smoking and vaping regulations a good thing for Ontario?

Photo by Lyndsay Jobe in the blogTO Flickr pool

by Derek Flack via blogTO