A student advocacy group aimed at preventing nicotine addiction among youth says it wants the Alberta and federal governments to ban all fruity and sugary vape juices.

“Flavors such as menthol or fruity flavors may also cause young people to want to smoke or develop an addiction because they are more accessible,” said Lisa Wei, a member of Stop Addicting Adolescents to Vaping and E-Cigarettes (SAAVE). ).

“It is concerning that Alberta has not yet made the decision to ban all of these additional flavors.”

Wei says the group wants governments to ban all flavors except tobacco, ban single-use vapes, remove vapes from shelves and place them behind pharmacy counters.

The University of Calgary student group also surveyed every MP in the province between September 23 and October 7, with each contacted three times by the group.

Forty percent did not respond, but two UCP MPs agreed that vapes should be sold behind a pharmacy counter.

Overall, 92 percent of those who responded either did not support any of the proposals or did not take a position.

“We learned a lot of lessons about communication barriers, but I think it’s important to maintain that optimism to move forward and create more opportunities,” Wei said.

“It has been shown that single-use vaping devices can attract more young people.”

The federal addiction minister’s office told CTV News on Monday that it expects new legislation to be passed in “about a month” but added that there are still several issues that need to be resolved.

Any ban, however, would impact local businesses, including vaping stores such as Bobilicious Vapes in Silverado.

Gregory Langston and Nancy Yip both argue that a ban on flavored vapes would cause significant harm to thousands of small business owners nationwide.

“I think you would probably see a lot of the small businesses in the industry start to disappear,” Langston said.

“I certainly feel targeted considering all the different vices available to the everyday public.”

Langston says vaping has actually helped cigarette smokers make healthier lifestyle choices.

“Helping smokers quit smoking really makes you question a lot of things,” Langston said.

“And why so much effort is being put into this particular industry.”

Yip says behind-the-counter vapes and flavor restrictions may force users into an illegal market.

“We personally guaranteed our house on this,” she said.

“So I’m sure a lot of other stores have done this too. We’re all probably scrambling if it’s only a month. That’s not a lot of time to prepare.”

Alberta Health says its Tobacco, Smoking and Vaping Reduction Act (TSVRA) initially consulted Albertans on the policy.

“We’ve heard from former smokers that the availability of flavored vaping products has helped them quit smoking. However, we have also heard that these flavors could attract young people to use vaping products,” said spokesperson Jessi Rampton.

The province says it’s taking a balanced approach, but isn’t sure when the federal government’s plan to ban fruity and sweet flavors will come into effect.