Flavoured tobacco now banned in N.L.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Starting on Saturday, flavoured tobacco, including menthol, will no longer be sold in Newfoundland and Labrador. “Legislation to ban the sale of flavoured tobacco, including menthol, will reduce smoking rates,” Matthew Piercey, executive director of the Canadian Cancer Society, Newfoundland and Labrador, said in a news release lauding government for imposing the ban.

Adult smoking rates in the province have dropped from 28 per cent in 2000 to 18.5 per cent in 2014, the cancer society said, attributing the shift to public policy changes and quit-smoking programs. Late last year, Premier Dwight Ball committed to reducing the smoking rate by four per cent.