Smoking, vaping, nicotine addiction, and their health effects impact many people in Simcoe Muskoka. Commercial tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death and disease in Canada. In Ontario, it is responsible for nearly 17,000 deaths every year.
It is important to note that commercial tobacco is tobacco that is grown, manufactured, and sold for profit by the tobacco industry. It does not include traditional and/or sacred tobacco used for ceremonial purposes by First Nation, Metis, and Inuit communities.
Locally, about 14% of people 19 or older in Simcoe Muskoka smoke cigarettes. Each year, smoking-related health conditions cause an average of 861 deaths, 3,516 hospitalizations, and 7,058 emergency room visits in the region.
While youth smoking rates remain at an all-time low, vaping devices (like e-cigarettes) are still addicting youth to nicotine. Rates of past year vaping among Ontario youth increase with grade, from 5.0% of students in grade 8 to 21.8% of students in grade 12. Youth in grades 10-12, as well as those that identify as female, are more likely to report vaping in the past year.
Many young people do not know that using vaping products has health risks and increases the chances that they will begin smoking cigarettes, use other drugs, and make feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression worse.
How can we help?
The health unit's Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction program educates our communities about smoking, vaping, and other tobacco industry products such as nicotine pouches, chew, and hookah. Visit our other webpages about smoking and vaping for more information. As well, parents and other caregivers can learn how to help prevent young people from becoming addicted to nicotine through vaping or support them to quit at NotAnExperiment.ca.
If you smoke or vape, we can also help you quit for good. It's never too late to quit and you don't have to do it alone. Give us a call or visit our quitting page to learn more.
We know it is easier to stop using these products or quit and stay quit if there are more smoke and vapour-free spaces in our communities. Smoke and vapour-free policies also protect you from unwanted exposure to secondhand smoke and aerosol (vapour) where you live, work, learn, and play. We can work with you and other community partners to create and promote smoke and vapour-free policies, including those for multi-unit housing (e.g., apartments, condos), colleges and universities, and workplaces.
Finally, our program educates about and enforces provincial laws, including the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017, which governs the sale, supply, and display of commercial tobacco and vaping products, and regulates smoking and vaping, including the smoking and vaping of cannabis, in workplaces and public places.
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