First of all, I would like to state that my organization is agnostic with respect to increasing access to natural health products in general. We're not against increased access to natural health products.
With respect to nicotine pouches, that's definitely a different situation. I should clarify, too, that we are expecting vape flavour restrictions to come into final regulations and hopefully be in place by the end of June, so that's one issue.
Vape flavours are not addressed in the budget; it's nicotine pouches that are being addressed, and potentially other nicotine products. We know that tobacco and vaping companies have been promoting nicotine pouches. There are going to be nicotine toothpicks next, or nicotine gum. It's never going to end, and we're never going to stop this cycle of addiction in Canada. The reality is, as I mentioned earlier, that waiting three to four years for regulation or legislation is not going to work, because we're going to end up with another vaping epidemic in Canada, and parents have had enough of this.
The reality is that these budgetary measures are going to give the government a good opportunity to control nicotine pouches. I don't think anyone here in this committee is going to want increased access to nicotine pouches and nicotine, which is highly damaging to the brain and increases risk of cardiovascular disease to youth and children in Canada. If there are other potential unintended consequences, perhaps that issue could be resolved in another way, but as a first measure, this is critical, because otherwise we are going to end up with another vaping epidemic in Canada. That's why it's key to address this now and here.