Some worrying information
- Quebec has 1.5 million smokers, representing nearly one-quarter (23%) of the population.
- Smoking quickly leads to nicotine addiction, the symptoms of which usually appear after the first few cigarettes.
- In Québec, most smokers started smoking before the age of 18. At this stage of their lives, the brain and body are still developing, and are therefore more sensitive to the toxic substances in tobacco smoke.
- 22% of high school students – or 100,000 teen smokers – use tobacco products.
- For non-smokers, exposure to second-hand smoke can increase the risk of developing lung cancer, cardiac disease or respiratory problems.
- According to a study by the Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac, smoking is responsible for roughly one-third (32.6%) of all full-day hospitalizations in Québec’s major hospitals, at a cost of nearly $930 million.
- Tobacco is an extremely dangerous consumer product. One smoker in every two dies prematurely from the effects of smoking.
- According to the World Health Organisation, one person dies from a tobacco-related disease every 6.5 seconds.
- Tobacco is the leading cause of avoidable death in Quebec, killing an average of 28 people per day, or 10,400 per year.
Children and teens: Targets of choice
- When children and teens try smoking, they underestimate both the risk of becoming addicted to tobacco and the dangers to their health. This is because the tobacco manufacturers present their product as being socially acceptable.
- Some adults think it’s inevitable that teens will try smoking, and even go so far as to provide them with cigarettes. And yet, even the fact of trying out a cigarette can have very serious consequences for teen health.
- Around 70% of students who try to quit smoking start up again, a figure that clearly shows just how strong tobacco addiction can be.
Cigarillos are very popular with teens, but they are just as harmful to health as cigarettes. They contain the same poisonous, cancer-causing products as cigarettes, sometimes at higher concentrations.