News

While health officials are seeing a rise in vaping and cannabis use, especially among youth, tobacco use still remains a top concern. In 2014, there were 2,659 deaths in Manitoba due to substance use and 1,845 of those were the result of tobacco. Southern Health's Irene Ascough notes as part of national smoking week, they're raising awareness that tobacco remains the only commercial product on the market that will eventually kill nearly half of all long-term users.

"We want to focus on the fact that smoking is still an issue in our society," Ascough says.

And while the smoking rate in Manitoba is down from 26 percent to 14.5 percent, Ascough explains the smoking rate is still nearly four times higher in some segments of the population. She notes evidence suggests smoking rates can be connected to a location, experiences of trauma, discrimination, and racism.

"It's exactly the people who have more barriers and disadvantages in our society that are more at risk for having commercial tobacco use affect them negatively," she says. Studies suggest improving access to education, income and employment can all help address the higher smoking rates. "Smoking or vaping is connected to other things in people's lives... so the important thing is having open, honest conversations... finding other skills to cope with stress."

Source