More than half of tobacco users in grades 9 through 12 in Canada use flavored tobacco, despite a national ban on certain flavored tobacco products, according to a study from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Data from the 2010-2011 Youth Smoking Survey, a nationally generalizable sample of Canadian students in grades 9 through 12, were used to examine tobacco product use. Researchers found that approximately 52 percent of young tobacco users used flavored products in the last 30 days. Flavored tobacco use varied by product type and ranged from 32 percent of cigarette smokers reporting menthol smoking to 70 percent of smokeless tobacco users reporting using flavored product in the last 30 days. The percentage of last 30-day users who used flavored tobacco was significantly higher in Quebec than in Ontario and significantly higher among youths who received weekly spending money than among those who received no money.

Flavored Tobacco Use Among Canadian Students in Grades 9 Through 12: Prevalence and Patterns From the 2010-2011 Youth Smoking Survey, Leia M. Minaker, PhD, University of Waterloo, Preventing Chronic Disease, published 19 June 2014.