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Nicotine use is rising in Canada for the first time in decades — and pouches are driving it

New ITC and Ontario Tobacco Research Unit survey data shows pouch use climbing fast among Canadian adults and teens, even as cigarettes keep declining — and an illicit market for unauthorized brands is already filling the gaps the pharmacy-only rules leave open.

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After decades of steady decline, nicotine consumption in Canada is going up again. Cigarettes are still falling — the growth is coming from pouches, vapes and other alternatives, and the newest numbers show nicotine pouches moving faster than any of them.

The data comes from two long-running Canadian survey programs, reported by the National Post this week. Between 2022 and 2024, ITC Canada surveys found nicotine pouch use rose from 3.6% to 5.3% among Canadian adults who smoke or used to smoke. Among teens aged 13 to 15, current use went from 1.0% to 2.5% over the same period before levelling off in 2025.

The starker number is from the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit: 35% of Canadians aged 17 to 27 have tried nicotine pouches this year, up from 8% in 2022.

What the numbers actually say

Geoffrey Fong, the University of Waterloo professor who leads the ITC Policy Evaluation Project, told the National Post that early research shows people who pick up a new nicotine product rarely drop the old one completely — total nicotine use goes up. "So, it's really a booming industry," he said.

Public health researchers point to two drivers: lifestyle marketing reminiscent of pre-ban tobacco advertising, and social media, where influencers pitch nicotine as a wellness hack. Dr. Michael Mak, a psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said the ads are "designed to appeal to younger folk" and imply pouches are a safer alternative — implying, not stating.

The retail rules don't match the market

Here's the part that matters for anyone watching the category: Canada's only government-approved pouch, Imperial Tobacco's Zonnic, is kept behind pharmacy counters and limited to mint and menthol flavours. Yet Fong says the illicit market already carries unauthorized brands — "We see Zyn. We see on!... and down the road, we may be seeing the Chinese-manufactured pouches."

That's the tension behind the policy fight we covered earlier this week: Alberta, Ontario and the convenience store industry are lobbying to move sales beyond pharmacies, and the federal government is reportedly open to loosening the rules. Critics, including CAMH's Mak, argue loosening restrictions is a move backwards. Supporters point out that the current pharmacy-only system hasn't stopped 35% of young adults from trying pouches — it has just pushed most of them to unauthorized products.

Both things are true at once: pouches are displacing cigarettes in Canada, and the strictest retail rules in the Western market are being routed by an illicit supply chain. The question for Ottawa is which problem loosening the rules actually fixes — and which one it makes worse.

If you're comparing pouch brands and strengths across markets, PouchFinder breaks down what's available and where.

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