CBC’s ‘Go Public’ News story
CBC’s ‘Go Public’ ran a news story Sunday evening and Monday morning citing a complaint from a CARP member about a recent focus group of CARP members. The purpose of the focus group was to hear about our members’ attitudes on the issue of smoking and potential new products as alternatives. CARP considered this an issue of concern to our members and that the questions were worth asking.
The focus group participants were asked their opinions about non-combustible alternatives to cigarette smoking, including vaping products, heated tobacco products and smokeless tobacco pouches.
The outcome of the focus groups, in line with CARP’s expectations, was that smoking remains highly out of favour, and there was general skepticism amongst the participants about the potential alternatives to smoking.
Further, CARP members who were former or current smokers were generally not supportive of alternatives to smoking or changes to restrictive legislation. In fact, CARP members expressed their wish for stronger legislation governing alternatives.