The Liberal government has recently announced their plans to introduce legislation to regulate vaping, as early as this fall.
Health Canada says this could potentially prevent nicotine addiction among youth and provide a healthier alternative for frequent smokers.
Youth Engagement Coordinator for the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit Jeff Moco says he's hopeful the regulation will take a preventative route for young people. He adds that this has been a long time coming.
"The original regulations were started in 2009, at a time when vaping wasn't very common," says Moco. "Use and availability has just exploded in the last six to seven years."
However, Moco says it's hard to compare the health benefits between vaping and cigarettes because there's still more that needs to be learned about the long term affects vaping may have.
"There are some health things related to vaping use [that] we don't really know all the answers to yet," says Moco, adding that for now it's still much safer than the average cigarette.
In a statement, Health Canada says another reason behind this regulation is to see more people quit smoking. But Moco says there's no concrete evidence that vaping will encourage people to quit any more than a patch or chewing gum, for now it just an alternative.
"For people who are smoking regularly, from a harm reduction standpoint the two can't be compared because tobacco is just so much more harmful," says Moco.
In a statement, the government says it's estimated about 87,000 Canadians will become frequent smokers this year, including youth members.
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