Legal age to buy cigarettes in Sask. not high enough: Health Group
Questions surrounding the legal age to buy tobacco products in Saskatchewan are once again being raised, amidst recent action by two other provinces in Canada and New York City raising the legal purchasing age to 21.
As it stands today the legal age to buy tobacco products in Saskatchewan is 18. Donna Pasiechnik, a Health Policy Analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, told paNOW it makes sense for the province to review the law.
“We haven’t updated our tobacco control laws since 2009-2010, and during [the last eight years] we’ve seen the introduction of e-cigarettes and water pipe smoking and the proliferation of flavoured tobacco products and really we have no policy in place to address that,” she said.
Pasiechnik said at a minimum she would like to see the age in Saskatchewan raised to 19, in line with the legal age to buy alcohol, and possibly even as high as 21. According to the most recent statistics by Health Canada, the smoking rate among youth in Saskatchewan is almost three times the national average. Pasiechnik said by raising the legal age to buy tobacco products, the province could help curb the number of young smokers.