City of Hamilton reporting an increase in non-compliance with Smoke-Free Ontario Act

Public Health Services seeing higher non-compliance with Act following the COVID-19 pandemic response

HAMILTON, ON – Hamilton Public Health Services is stepping up enforcement efforts to ensure compliance with the Province’s Smoke-Free Ontario Act.

With the return of Hamilton Public Health Services tobacco enforcement efforts to pre-pandemic levels, almost 1,200 inspections of retail locations have been completed through the first half of 2023. These inspections resulted in 80 charges – 50 for supplying vapour products to minors and 30 for supplying tobacco to minors. During these inspections, Hamilton Public Health Services Tobacco Enforcement Officers also seized various illegal vapour products which resulted in fines issued to owners and operators. Convictions for Hamilton retailers are posted on the City website at: www.hamilton.ca/tobaccoretailerconvictions.

There are 342 retailers in Hamilton licensed to sell tobacco products and 337 retailers licensed to sell vapour products with some overlap of retailers selling both. Ministry of Health protocols require two inspections of each retailer annually for tobacco access for youth, and one inspection annually each for vapour product access for youth, and for an inspection of a retailer’s display and promotion of tobacco and/or vapour products.

Access to these products is concerning because nicotine impacts the development of the teenage brain, affecting learning, memory, and concentration. Evidence shows that youth who vape are more likely to begin smoking cigarettes.

The Province’s Smoke-Free Ontario Act prohibits the sale of tobacco and vapour products to anyone under the age of 19, restricts most flavours and high nicotine vapour products to specialty stores, and prohibits the use of these products at schools and other public places. The intent is to prevent children and youth from starting to use tobacco and vapour products and decrease exposure to second-hand smoke in our community.

For more information or to file a complaint related to the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, residents can call the Tobacco Hotline at 905-540-5566 or email [email protected].

QUICK FACTS

• Selling or supplying tobacco or vapour products to an individual under 19 years of age can result in a $490 fine, selling flavoured vapour products in a prohibited location or selling high concentration nicotine products in a prohibited location can result in a $365 charge.

• The Ontario government issues an "automatic prohibition" when a tobacco retail location's owner is convicted of two or more tobacco sales offences in a five-year period. This means the location cannot sell or store tobacco products for a period of at least six months. Automatic prohibitions are not similarly applied to vapour product retail locations.
• Data from the 2019 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey showed past year-vaping prevalence rates among Ontario youth in grades 7-12 more than doubled from an average of 10.7 per cent in 2017 to 22.7 per cent in 2019. The Canadian Tobacco Alcohol and Drugs Survey and Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey reported past 30-day vaping rates doubled among youth aged 15-19 years over the same time period (from 6 per cent in 2017 to 14 per cent in 2020), with the prevalence of vaping among this age group at over one in three (35 per cent) in 2020.
• Smoking or vaping on school property or other public places can result in a $305 charge.

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