Is Canadian federal legislation effective in preventing youth access to vaping initiation products? A study using secret shoppers and online access in three Alberta cities

•120 ‘improper’ secret shopper visits, 3 cities, to buy nicotine vaping initiation products.•Vendors willing to sell in 42.5% of shop visits.•Minors’ online purchasing attempts aided by deliverers and non-descriptive packaging. The Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (Canada, 1997) (the “TVPA”) aims to protect the health of young persons by restricting access to vaping products. We studied whether the TVPA achieves this goal by sending young ‘secret shoppers’ to 120 shops in Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer to attempt to buy nicotine-based vaping-initiation products, and by asking minors to purchase the same product online. We used three ‘improper’ shop scenarios: 1. a minor or minors; 2. a young adult with no or invalid identification (“ID”); and 3. a young adult with valid ID but clearly buying for an accompanying minor. Of total vendors, 42.5% (51/120) were willing to sell to the young people (p