Nicotine Pouches | High Doses and On Hand

“Do you have any Zyn?” In a tobacco store in Côte-des-Neiges, the employee walks over to a frosted glass counter. When he turns off the light in the display, the windows become transparent. On the shelves sit a dozen or so colourful circular containers. They look like candy wrappers. However, these nicotine pouches should only be available from a pharmacist. And in a lower concentration.

Placed between the gum and lip, these small tobacco-free pouches release nicotine into the mouth. Young people are increasingly turning to these pouches for recreational purposes, even though they are marketed in Canada only as a therapy to help people quit smoking.

These Swedish-made sachets have been popular in Europe and the United States for several years. The Zyn brand (Philip Morris International) is one of the most popular among young Americans. On TikTok, videos featuring Zyn have accumulated hundreds of thousands of views.

It was these videos from American influencers that made nicotine pouches known to Zachary Pothier. “I had content pushed to me on Instagram. It became a trend. […] [Les Zyn sont] “We’ve entered the culture,” says the 24-year-old.

In Canada, only one product of this type was approved a year ago: the ZONNIC brand (Imperial Tobacco Canada) in a concentration of 4 mg. In Quebec, their sale is restricted to pharmacies, behind the counter.

However, we quickly found addresses on social networks to buy Zyn pouches in the province. In a few hours, The Press obtained several brands of nicotine pouches in concentrations of 6, 10 and 15 mg from three tobacco stores in the Montreal region.

It has been even easier to order bags online, from stores located elsewhere in Canada. The Press was able to purchase pouches containing 50 mg of nicotine, which were delivered from Vancouver in just a few days.

Ces doses, non homologuées, atteignent des seuils « exagérés », selon Guillaume Bélair, infirmier clinicien au Centre antipoison du Québec.

Des « 15-20 mg, c’est des doses très élevées. […] If we had a call for someone who had ingested 15 mg of nicotine, we would do a good assessment. It is certain that this is a dose sufficient to cause nausea. Even at 4 mg, you can have nausea.

Easily accessible in Quebec

Zachary Pothier tried nicotine pouches for the first time a year ago. They quickly became “interesting” products to quit smoking cigarettes and vaping. For other young people, nicotine pouches are more like “little pleasures” that enhance evenings with friends.

Some of these young people buy ZONNIC pouches at pharmacies. Others use illegal outlets where the flavours and nicotine levels are more varied: tobacco shops, specialty stores, websites or American convenience stores. Zachary Pothier buys them at tobacco shops in Kahnawake, on the South Shore of Montreal.

The Press went into one of these tobacco shops and saw a range of nicotine pouches on display for all to see, in concentrations from 3 to 15 mg.

The variety of brands is even greater online. Rush Tins offers more than 70 types of bags. On its website, the store says it ships nationwide in “discreet packaging.” The company is listed under different names on bank statements and packaging, namely Rush Athletics and Project Bloomberg.

Rush Tins posts sponsored videos on social media, showing the breadth of products offered. Zachary Pothier testified to receiving targeted ads from the store, where an employee demonstrates the process of shipping an order to upbeat music.

C’est sur ce site que La Presse a pu se procurer des sachets à 50 mg de nicotine, ce qui est 12,5 fois plus élevé que la dose homologuée. Le directeur général de Rush Tins, Joseph Scott, a refusé notre demande d’entrevue.

En ligne comme en magasin, La Presse a constaté la présence récurrente de sachets de la marque Zyn. La filiale canadienne de Philip Morris International a précisé à La Presse que « la vente de Zyn n’est pas autorisée au Canada » et qu’ils sont vendus par des « parties non autorisées ».

Une tendance qui suscite l’inquiétude

Deux appels concernant les sachets de nicotine ont été reçus au Centre antipoison du Québec depuis l’ajout du produit à sa base de données, il y a six mois, selon l’infirmier Guillaume Bélair.

Plus les teneurs en nicotine augmentent, plus les effets néfastes pour la santé peuvent être importants : vomissements, altération de l’état de conscience, rythme cardiaque élevé et, dans des cas extrêmes, convulsions, explique le pharmacien et chercheur Jean-Pierre Bernier.

J’ai vraiment diminué ma consommation. Quand j’en prends trop, je vais avoir mal à la tête et il faut que je m’étende.

Zachary Pothier

Jean-Pierre Bernier s’inquiète de voir le nombre d’intoxications à la nicotine augmenter au Québec, comme c’est arrivé dans les pays où les sachets de nicotine sont présents depuis plus longtemps, comme en France.

« C’est quelque chose qui nous inquiète de plus en plus chez les adolescents à [l’hôpital] Sainte-Justine,” also says Dr.^r Nicholas Chadi, a pediatrician and researcher specializing in the study of adolescence and drug addiction. The trend is also a source of concern in secondary schools, according to the director of programs for the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health, Dominique Claveau.

The popularity of nicotine pouches internationally has led the COMPASS project, which studies adolescent health in Quebec, to include this trend in its 2024 study. Conducted among 50,000 high school students, the survey ended in June, but the results are still being analyzed.

Few studies have looked at the use of these new products, experts say. However, trends in Europe and the United States, where the sachets have been available for longer, can help predict the situation in Canada and Quebec, according to Dr.^r Richard Bélanger, adolescent physician at the CHU de Québec.

“If we decided to include questions on this, it is because we clearly saw the public health issues and the elements of fear that the population should have around new forms of exposure to nicotine,” explains Dr.^r Bélanger, one of the COMPASS researchers at the Vitam Sustainable Health Research Center.

Even more dangerous craft products

A smoke shop on the Plateau Mont-Royal has sold The Press a kit for making your own nicotine pouches: customizable pouches, flavoring and liquid nicotine product, like that used in electronic cigarettes.

The seller explained to The Press how to mix flavor and nicotine liquid, then soak the pouches.

According to several experts, these homemade pouches double the dangers. The toxicity of the vaping liquid is indicated on the bottle, where there is a warning to contact a poison control center in case of ingestion.

Liquid nicotine products are not regulated by Health Canada, says Bélair. “The concentration that is written on the bottle, is that really what the product contains? We can doubt it.”

The nurse explains that by swallowing a liquid designed to be inhaled, a very large amount of nicotine can be absorbed quickly. “It’s like a game of chance, because the person can’t be sure what they’re consuming and how much.”