‘World No Tobacco Day’
Prince George, B.C. – Today is ‘World No Tobacco Day,’ and Northern Health is reminding people its working hard to address smoking and its deadly after-effects.
“We are developing systems to address tobacco with all our patients to ask about tobacco, advise people to quit and give them some resources to quit,” says Nancy Viney, regional nursing lead, tobacco reduction. “We also want to make sure that our patients who use tobacco are treated for withdrawal in our hospitals.”
She says that includes giving them replacement therapies like the patch and inhalers.
Viney says there may be even more help on the horizon from the federal government in the form of plain packaging.
“Some countries like Australia have implemented a plain packaging law for tobacco which is really great because the only message on the package is the health warnings. And they’re less appealing to youth.”
She says it’s working in helping reducing smoking rates there and says it may not be long before they are introduced in Canada.
“The Liberal government is planning to implement plain packaging – when they were elected that was a promise that they were going to look at for tobacco reduction, so I think we are moving in that direction.”
Statistics show northerners could use all the help they can get when trying to quit smoking. For example, Viney says smoking rates in northern, B.C. remain the highest in the province (in the 20-25% range).
“There’s a variety of reasons but we’re very much in line with other northern communities. I think more people work outside where they can still smoke in the workplace. It’s just more of the norm of behaviour amongst the population that live in northern, B.C.”
She adds however there are plenty of resources available to help you quit.
“QuitNow services provides online services or counselling by text or phone. You can find this website at www.quitnow.ca or you can call Health Link at 8-1-1 and they’ll connect you by phone.”
In addition to that, she says the BC Smoking Cessation program provides 12 weeks of patches, gum, inhalers or lozenges each calendar year.
You can sign up for the program at your local pharmacy.
Comments
So Justin, wants to get the tobacco in plain boxes, than allow pot.
So with its absence of mention, smoking dope I take it is okay?
How do you go from tobacco to marijuana. That is like saying that carbonated beverages are available to all, so many people must be alcoholics.
just because you don’t like the current party leader in office, does not mean he is an idiot. It just means you have to deal with a different belief system for four (4) years.
You are muddling up both issues. Pick one, make logical arguments for your case, and stop contaminating separate issues.
Tobacco is a completely legal substance to possess and to consume. Marijuana, not so much.
We know that tobacco is harmful when used as intended by manufacturers. If used in manner of per-colonial time, there is limited negative health effects.
What grinds my gears is health professional always going off on smokers, yet so many of these so called health professionals are literally morbidly obese. So, it is hard to take them seriously when they have very apparent health issues of their own. I can bound up several flights of stairs and only be breathing hard, many nurses and care aids I know cannot without wheezing due to being extremely unfit and obese.
Maybe, health care should look in the mirror before telling me what is best for me.
Two bad health practices and conditions are not an excuse for justifying yet another bad one.
So how did you go from tobacco to marijuana to the violent idiot.
I see all these anti smoking campaigns but marijuana which has been shown to be worse seems to get a free ride. Bias maybe?
Like plain packages will make a difference, where do they come up with this crap? The only thing that will stop someone from smoking is the person themselves, forget hypnosis, gum, patches, therapies, voodoo, exorcisms etc.
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