Every day, I work with people who are ready to take one of the hardest steps in their lives, to quit smoking.

For most, it’s a deeply personal decision, often years in the making, and it requires the right tools at the right time. That is why I am encouraged, and welcome, the B.C. Finance Committee’s recent recommendation in its pre-budget report to consider increasing access to Health Canada-approved nicotine pouches by allowing their sale alongside tobacco products as a smoking cessation aid.

I look forward to the B.C. government implementing this change, effectively reversing the province’s own decision last year that put Zonnic, the only approved nicotine replacement therapy pouch, behind the pharmacy counter.

At the time, I couldn’t understand why B.C., being the only Canadian jurisdiction that still allows tobacco to be sold in drugstores, would put a less harmful nicotine product, one that helps to solve tobacco addiction, as a Schedule II product behind the pharmacy counter. That made it much more difficult for smokers to access a full range of NRT products and select the one that works........

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